A Mere Johnson Ejected For Not Letting Go of Ref's Ball

He actually was doing that the whole game. Think it's a thing he does after every free throw. Ref prob got tired of it and went on a power trip.

 

Rest in peace, Dwayne Casey.

 

You guys really blaming the ref here?

That was all on Amie....he had no reason to go after the ref like that..it was during a free throw. Who does that?

This is an NBA first and by being a moron he'll probably get fined too

 

Amir was doing it the whole game. Ref should have gave him a delay of game warning or told him to stop doing it but he never did. He made up his mind to get the ball before Amir does. You can see him creeping up like he was ready to grab the ball before Amir. Amir is to blame to, but ref is also to blame. Tell him to stop doing it and he probably would have.

 

This is the problem with NBA refs.

Their job is to minimize bad behaviors and keep players in the game.

Although Amir was wrong in this case, the ref was obviously baiting him. It's so passive aggressive.

 

It should have been a jump ball. Amir got all ball there.

 

Haha Amir should've pointed his thumbs in the air :grin: There's not excuse for not letting go though and I agree refs are supposed to be minimising bad behaviour and some times they provoke it.

 

Wow, can't believe some of ya'll are putting the blame of the ref. You all do realize Johnson wouldn't let go of the ball when the ref was pulling away right? Regardless if he was touching the ball at every free throw in this game or the game before you don't go up to the ref and have a tug of war with him just so you can touch the ball. Johnson's own fault for acting dumb and not being smarter about the situation.

 

Johnson got out rebounded by an old man. He deserves the ejection.

PPat could have gotten that ball first.

 

Completely agree with you. Man, some of these NBA players are so incredibly dumb.

 

Was about to write this. The ref was just as immature in the situation because if he cared that much he should have stopped it the 2nd, or 3rd time. Obviously the dude just has some OCD issue on touching the basketball.

The ref then clings on to the ball with all his strength to keep it away from Johnson, and then some words are probably said so the ref decides that is worth 2 T's. I don't know what was said. The actions after def. deserved an ejection, but the ref went on a total power trip. The ref instigated the situation 100%.

--* A simple delay of game would have probably made Johnson stop. He had done it about 6 times prior to this play, at least.

-I also haven't been watching this cat in the L so don't know if he does this all the time, or what not.
-Mr. Clutch brings up a good point that the refs don't calm players down anymore; within reason of course. It's simply throw um out if they get on their (the ref's) nerves. Back in the day you'd only have a couple exceptions of refs that would do this, mostly only to star players. Now a days it is "throw um outta here", and/or don't settle the situation down to let problems arise later in the game...

 

I enjoyed the thread title more than I did the story...

 

Yeah let players rip the ball aggressively from the refs hands and then go ghetto having to be held back by his teammates from fighting the referee..... that's perfect. Good job everyone.

when keeping it real goes wrong.

 

How do you know the ref hadn't warned him about it earlier in the game? According to some posters in this thread, Johnson had been doing it the whole game.

Perhaps earlier in the game the ref was doing what other posters suggested, trying to keep it calm and keep the player in the game without punishment.

 

He would have thrown the ball at the ref, not pulled it from the ref.

 

Who gets called for delay of game during a free throw?

LOL that's the point, nobody ever does this.

He not only tried to take the ball from a ref but went on a cursing tangent on top of that, then went after him.

I don't care what you guys say, that's inexcusable. How dumb can you be to get kicked out of a game during a free throw

 

this has got to be one of the oddest dumb things Ive seen in the nba, I mean who the eff he think he is to punk the ref into holding the ball.. And was struggling with him over it lol
then throws his mouth piece at the ref like hes the one who effed up o-o lmbo hes bipolar or somethin

 

Dumb on both parts. If that bothered the ref that much not to give Johnson the ball than call a delay of game warning and Johnson will not do it again. He just does it every time after a FT. Yes its dumb and inexcusable, but the ref could have gone at this a better way. After all he did it at least 6 other times throughout the game.

 

"I guess the ref didn't let me have the ball so we kind of got into a tug of war," Johnson said. "No words were really said and he rejected me out of the game and I kind of lost my cool from there."

Johnson said he has a habit of rubbing the ball before handing it to the ref during free throws and that that was all he was trying to do when Jones grabbed the ball.

Johnson comes across as pretty childish in the video of the incident, above, and after the game he seemed to agree.

"I think it was just really childish. It was something that didn't need to happen," Johnson said. "I lost my cool and I apologize on my part."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-watch-amir-johnson-20121211,0,4335855.story

 

...but the ref finally gave up the ball, but not Amir

Its not the refs fault Amir went into thorazine mode.

You absolutely cannot blame anyone else for your actions.