[Courier-Post]Brown feels bad for Van Gundy after fine

http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/sports/s050405b.htm

Brown feels bad for Van Gundy after fine

Wednesday, May 4, 2005

By CELESTE E. WHITTAKER
Courier-Post Staff
AUBURN HILLS, Mich.

Pistons coach Larry Brown has been fined before for making comments about NBA officiating, but nothing close to the $100,000 Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy was fined for his recent comments.

The fine, which was levied on Monday, was the largest ever for an NBA coach.

Former Lakers coach Phil Jackson was fined $50,000 on March 11, 2004, for his comments regarding officials, but Van Gundy's fine dwarfs that.

Van Gundy told reporters he thinks Houston center Yao Ming is being targeted by officials and said that Dallas owner Mark Cuban is to blame.

On Sunday, he said an unnamed official, who is not working the playoffs, called him and told him Yao had been mentioned in an online evaluation from supervisor of officials Ronnie Nunn and that the Houston center was being looked at closely because of Cuban's complaints.

Dallas has won three straight games in that best-of-seven series and leads 3-2.

"I feel bad," said Brown, who was fined $35,000 on Jan. 29 for criticizing officials after a game. "I like him (Van Gundy). I don't think he really, knowingly wants to do anything to damage the game. But I know how those phone calls are. Hopefully that's going to be over and done with.

"I don't like to see anybody get fined. It's not a good thing. I admire Jeff, and I think if he had it to do over again, like we all do sometimes, he probably wouldn't say anything. I don't think it had anything to do with Yao or Cuban. I don't think the fine was because of that. You obviously can read into that. He's (Van Gundy) a good guy who cares about the game. Hopefully, it's over."


NBA Commissioner David Stern said an investigation will continue once the Rockets' playoff run ends and called the fine an "intermediary step," hinting at further punishment. He even implied that Van Gundy could face a lifetime ban.

"If he's going to say things like that, he's not going to continue in this league," Stern told the Associated Press. "If the attitude reflected in those comments continues to be public, he's going to have a big problem with me as long as I'm commissioner."

Stern is particularly furious that Van Gundy won't disclose the name of the anonymous official.

"This is the first case I can remember when an allegation has been made and the perpetrator hasn't cooperated," Stern told the AP.