Tag: nba officials

NBA refs ejected Giannis Antetokounmpo against the Pistons for the most pathetic reason

It’s always great when officials make the game about themselves, isn’t it?

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, Winners! Happy Thursday! I hope you’re well. Thank you for reading the Morning Win this morning.

Don’t you love it when officials make themselves the main story of a game? Isn’t it just the best?

We need to thank Rodney Mott and his officiating crew for the Pistons-Bucks game on Wednesday night for giving us a show. Because, boy, did they make that game as interesting as possible.

The Bucks had a healthy 11-point lead on the Pistons with nine minutes left in the third quarter. Then this happened.

Antetokounmpo was ejected for *checks notes* dunking really hard on someone. Then he did the too-small celebration. It was a fun moment where a star showed a bit of emotion! No wonder he was ejected. We don’t like emotion in our basketball, right? You tell ’em, refs.

The Pistons were down 13 when Giannis left. Detroit took a 10-point lead into the third quarter. This completely shifted the game. The officials were the night’s main thing, and that’s never supposed to happen.

Officials explained the ejection and, well, you’re not going to like it.

“After the Dunk Giannis turns to his opponent and taunts him and a taunting technical foul was called, an unsportsmanlike. And he was ejected from the game, per rule, because two unsportsmanlike technical fouls, you are ejected from the game.” 

The first technical, I get. Antetokounmpo reportedly cursed at an official after a no-call. You can’t do that unless you’re Draymond Green. But that second one? Come on, man.

Look. I don’t like talking about officials. They have a hard job to do and, generally, they do it well. Nobody gives them credit for it because we only care about the job when they mess it up.

But this? This was bad. And it feels like there’s been a lot more inconsistency from officials so far this season with calls like this one.

Let’s hope they set things straight before the big games start.

Never give up hope, Angels

Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

The Angels are putting their best foot forward in the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes.

There are reportedly as many as 10 teams chasing Ohtani right now, ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez writes, including big spenders like the Mets, Rangers, Yankees, Dodgers, and even the World Series Champion Rangers.

But the Angels aren’t lying inert here. LA is making moves to try and keep Ohtani around starting with the Ron Washington hire.

Now, look. It’s not foolproof. Washington hasn’t been a head manager of a team since he left the Rangers in 2014. He’s been the Braves third-base coach since 2017.

He was effective with Texas, though. Washington’s Rangers won two AL pennants and had an 18-16 postseason record. That’s better than literally anything the Angels have done since 2009. It’s worth the shot. Especially considering how bad the Angels’ farm system is. LA isn’t a great job.

But LA hopes Washington’s presence might show the generational star that the Angels are serious enough to prevent that.

We’ll see if he feels the same way about it when his decision finally comes.

MUST READ: Ranking all 30 of Shohei Ohtani’s most attractive free agency options

Welcome back, Paige Bueckers!

Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

It’s been 584 days since Paige Bueckers touched a basketball court for the UConn Huskies.

Now, she’s back, folks.

The team had its season opener on Wednesday against Dayton. Bueckers finished with 8 points, seven rebounds and four assists. She didn’t shoot it well, but her game was as smooth as ever.

Not bad for someone returning from a torn ACL.

With Bueckers back in the lineup UConn has one of the most stacked squads in college basketball right now. Along with her,  Aaliyah Edwards and Azzi Fudd, you’ve got one of the most talented trios in college basketball. Their entire starting lineup is nothing to scoff at.

I’m not saying this team is a shoo-in to win the title. But Geno Auriemma’s squads are always going to be in the conversation. Watch out for the Huskies.

Quick hits: Why the ManningCast is flopping … Is Al Michaels done? … and more

— The MannigCast ratings are, uh, not great this season. It seems like people just want to watch their football! Mary Clarke has you covered on this one.

— Al Michaels hears all of your complaints about his enthusiasm — or the lack of it. He doesn’t see a difference! Andrew Joseph has more.

— Joel Embiid MVP odds are looking sweet right now. Thank you, James Harden. Prince Grimes has more.

— Travis Kelce is following Taylor Swift on tour. That’s nice, huh? Charles Curtis has more.

— The Bears win either way tonight on Thursday night football! Charles Curtis has more.

— I cannot imagine losing $10 betting on Kent State. But $1.5 million?!? Nah. You’d never see me again. Ben Fawkes has more.

That’s all, folks. Thanks so much for reading. Have a fantastic Thursday. I hope you’re off tomorrow! We’ll be here for you. Until next time, peace.

-Sykes ✌️

The NBA’s Eric Lewis situation has gotten so wild that even LeBron James is questioning it now

The Eric Lewis situation just took another big turn with one tweet from LeBron James

The NBA’s situation with Eric Lewis and a mysterious Twitter account had already come to a head when the league announced that it was launching an investigation into the activity surrounding the account.

The account was discovered by NBA fans earlier this week. The tweets in question are all in defense of calls that Eric Lewis has made. There are no real allegiances to any teams or players apparent within the content on the account, but it still seems a bit strange.

Initially, fans believed the account was a burner Twitter account that Eric Lewis uses But the person behind the account claimed to be Lewis’ brother, Mark.

As I said, this is all pretty strange. It’s strange enough for players to start to question it. And not just any player — we’re talking about LeBron James here.

James hopped on to Twitter and asked whether the news about Lewis was true.

Whew boy.

Look, we have no idea what James knows or what he’s questioning here. But the most important part about officiating is the integrity of the official. Players, coaches, fans and everyone else need to feel that each official is trustworthy.

We’ll have to wait and see what gets uncovered from the NBA’s investigation into the social media activity. Honestly, it didn’t seem like that big of a deal. But it’s obviously snowballed into a bigger thing here and now Lewis’ integrity is being questioned here.

That right there is not a good look.

The NBA is reportedly investigating Twitter activity related to Eric Lewis after fans unearthed a mysterious burner account

The Eric Lewis situation just took a huge, serious turn

The Eric Lewis burner account allegations were — and still are — pretty funny at first. But things have officially reached a level of seriousness that I don’t think many of us expected.

For those of you out of the loop, earlier this week NBA Fans unearthed a Twitter account that they think is NBA referee Eric Lewis’ burner account.

The account’s handle is @BlairCuttliff. It only has 108 tweets so far and essentially all of them are replies to other people defending calls Lewis has made during games against NBA fans.

There’s a plot twist here, though. We don’t actually know whose account this actually is. After fans discovered the account and brought it to the rest of the internet’s attention, the operator seemingly outed themselves as Eric Lewis’ brother, Mark.

So, yeah. This is all pretty strange. Strange enough for the NBA to feel like it needs to step in here.

The league is reportedly launching an official review into the Twitter activity related to Eric Lewis, according to veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein.

This is officially a big deal. It’s unclear what, exactly, the league is investigating surrounding Lewis. But this is the same sort of thing that happened when fans discovered an account supporting former NBA executive Bryan Colangelo.

The investigation revealed that the account was actually Colangelo’s wife’s account, but it still led to the then-76ers executive’s resignation from the team. He hasn’t gotten a job in the NBA since.

This isn’t to say that the same thing will happen here with Lewis, but an investigation certainly isn’t a good sign. We’ll have to wait and see what turns up from this.

Why fans think NBA ref Eric Lewis has a burner Twitter account to defend himself

If this is truly Eric Lewis, he should be proud of his work.

There’s something about the NBA when it comes to burner accounts, man. No idea what it is, but everyone seems to have one.

Kevin Durant had multiple burner accounts as an NBA superstar. He probably still does. Jerry Colangelo’s wife — allegedly — also had a burner account where she defended the former 76ers executive.

NBA referee Eric Lewis is the latest to spark chatter that he might have his own burner account.

Fans somehow stumbled upon this mysterious Twitter account that, for whatever reason, always defends NBA officials — mostly Eric Lewis.

The account — @CuttliffBlair — which as of this morning has deleted all of its tweets but still has a long list of liked tweets tied to Lewis — doesn’t seem to tweet about anything else besides Lewis.

As things went further and further, the situation got funnier.

Fred VanVleet is going to have to pay a ridiculous fine after eviscerating Ben Taylor and the NBA’s officials

Fred VanVleet and Ben Taylor need to hash things out

There’s a whole lot of beef swirling around in the NBA right now. We’ve obviously got Draymond Green and Dillon Brooks. But now we also have…Fred VanVleet and Ben Taylor?

No, Ben Taylor isn’t a player you don’t know. He’s actually an official. And VanVleet called him out, personally, in an expletive-laden postgame rant after the Raptors’ loss to the Clippers on Wednesday.

VanVleet got hit with a technical foul in the 3rd quarter of the game against the Clippers. It obviously didn’t impact the game in a drastic way, but it tacked on to a Clippers run that gave LA an 8-point lead in the middle of the quarter.

VanVleet was clearly bothered by it. Bothered enough to let this rant ring off.

“I don’t mind. I’ll take a fine — I don’t really care. Ben Taylor was [expletive] terrible tonight. I thought that, on most nights, a couple out of the 3 — there’s one or two [officials] — that [expletive] the game up. It’s been like that a couple of games in a row…We come out tonight, we’re competing really hard. I get a [expletive] tech. Changes the whole dynamic of the game…Most of the refs are trying hard…they’re pretty fair. They communicate well. But then you’ve got the other ones who just want to be [expletive]. And that just kind of [expletive] the game up. Nobody is coming to see that [expletive]. They’re coming to see the players.” 

At least we know he doesn’t care about taking the fine here because, WHEW BOY, is Fred getting a fine for this one. It’s going to be a wild fine, too. Not only did he call out the officials — and one specifically in Ben Taylor — but y’all see all those [expletives] in the quote? Nah, man. Adam Silver is definitely not letting this rock.

He seems to think things are personal with Ben Taylor and, look, Taylor is just out there doing his job. VanVleet can be a bit of a hothead, too. He’s got 8 technical fouls and an ejection this season.

But someone on Reddit dug into VanVleet’s techs this season and, well, Ben Taylor has actually given him 5 of them.

Now, this doesn’t mean that Taylor doesn’t like VanVleet. But, in seeing this data, you can understand why VanVleet is frustrated. There seems to be something there.

Regardless, though, that fine is coming, Freddy. It’s going to be a doozy.

Tyrese Haliburton took a brilliant shot at the NBA’s referees after an atrocious 4th quarter against the Lakers

SLEEPLESS NIGHTS.

LeBron James better never complain about the NBA officials’ conspiracy against the Lakers again. At least, if you ask Tyrese Haliburton, anyway.

The Pacers’ newly minted All-Star point guard subtly called the officiating crew for Thursday’s Lakers-Pacers game out after Indiana didn’t shoot a single free throw in the 4th quarter.

The Pacers had a poor quarter overall. They only scored 15 points and had an offensive rating of 65.2. Normally, they’ve got one of the best offenses in the league — especially when Haliburton is in the driver’s seat. So what happened?

Reporters asked the Pacers’ point guard about it in the post-game press conference and his explanation was incredible.

Basically, he blamed the lack of foul calls as the reason why the Pacers’ offense was bogged down. He also hilariously brought up the completely ridiculous “sleepless nights” tweet from the NBA Officials‘ Twitter account that still makes me cackle when I think about it.

This man is already an All-Star in the post-game press conference.

“Yeah, I don’t know, man. Some missed shots. I think there was a lot of stuff that went into it. Poor 4th quarter all around. I think we didn’t get our first foul until the last 30 seconds.” 

Then, he made THIS face. And you know the vibes that come with this face.

Haliburton said he wasn’t going to say anything, but that face says it all. Then he finishes with “What was the tweet? Sleepless nights?” And it’s just perfect.

For those of you who don’t get it, this is the tweet Haliburton is referencing.

This happened after LeBron James and the Lakers complained for essentially an entire day after the officials missed a game-changing foul call at the end of their matchup against the Celtics. Now, the shoe is on the other foot. At least, according to Haliburton.

For what it’s worth, Haliburton said the Pacers didn’t get a foul call “until the last 30 seconds” of the game, which is incorrect. The Lakers were called for 3 fouls in the quarter, but none of them actually led to free throws for Indiana. So his point still stands, sort of.

CONSPIRACY. He’ll definitely get a fine for this one. But I’m sure LeBron James, of all people, will appreciate it.

Draymond Green reacts to the controversial late foul calls in Heat vs. Bucks Game 2

Following the Heat’s game two win over the Bucks, Draymond Green chimed in on Twitter with a reaction to the late controversial foul calls.

On Wednesday, the Miami Heat took a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

Steady performances from Goran Dragic and Tyler Herro pushed Erik Spoelstra’s squad past Giannis Antetokounmpo in game two. However, the game will be remembered for a pair of controversial foul calls in the final moments of the contest.

With 7.7 seconds remaining, the Heat led the game by three points when Khris Middleton pulled up for a deep attempt from beyond the arc over Dragic. Referee Marc Davis called a foul on the Miami guard, sending Middleton to the free-throw line with a chance to tie the game.

Via @SportsCenter on Twitter:

The Bucks All-Star wing knocked down all three free throws, tying the game at 114 with 4.3 seconds remaining. On the next possession, another whistle was blown. As Jimmy Butler pulled up for a jumper at the buzzer, Antetokounmpo was called for a shooting foul.

Via @BleacherReport on Twitter:

With the clock sitting on double-zeros, Butler buried a free throw to seal Miami’s game two victory.

After the game, a member of the Golden State Warriors chimed in on Twitter with thoughts on the “tough” late foul calls. While he’s had his fair share of battles with officiating in the past, Draymond Green tweeted the referees were “probably right” on each call.

Via @Money23Green on Twitter:

Green’s former Golden State teammate Andre Iguodala added four points on 1-of-2 shooting from the field with two rebounds and two assists in 11 minutes against Milwaukee.

Iguodala, Butler and the Heat will lace up for the chance to move to a 3-0 lead in the series against the Bucks on Friday at 3:30 P.M. PT.

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