Deke gets T for 'mocking' ref Crawford with a smile

Mutombo's technical smilie

I know this was discussed briefly in the game thread, but according to the AP story, this is the reason tonight's hero Mutombo got his T:

"He was mocking me with his smile," official Joe Crawford explained to incredulous Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy.

Rockets-Miami game story

I'm not one of these people who thinks the refs are always out to screw us (to be honest, I didn't see Mutombo's smile), and Crawford is known to have a hairtrigger T. Who knows, maybe Mutombo gave him a or . Even though it didn't matter tonight, however, I wish the NBA did more to keep their refs accountable. I know that the Rockets have tried to do this by sending the NBA tapes of the refereeing of Yao, but with the playoffs coming up, I would hate the refs to determine a game's outcome. Especially when our second-best player gets so many ticky-tack fouls.

 

Smile at Joe Crawford? Now Deke, you know that's not the proper way to treat a ref. Your are suppose to yelling and screaming at him, if that doesn't work, try to beat his head against the score table, that will get you the respect that you need.

 

Dont forget about simply touching an official and asking in a calm manner why you were just called for a foul.

 

Oh man, you know that is totoally unacceptable, espeically if you are a 7'6 mild mannered Asian man with no history of whining and b!tching at the ref what-so-ever.

 

Joey Crawford was in rare form tonite. In addition to the technical on Deke.....the incorrect reset of the 24sec clock after Barry saved the ball from going out of bounds with only 2 seconds on Miami's shotclock remaining (which led to the first 4 point play for Damon) AND the lane violation called on Deke while Shaq was in the midst of missing every freethrow the refs could possibly gift him AND the bullshtt defensive 3 second violation called on Mike James when the replay clearly showed he was periodically moving his foot in and out of the paint every 2 seconds AND the fact that TMac could not buy a foul when getting clobbered on his drives while Wade was getting freethrows if the defender breathed on him the wrong way AND the way Joey Crawford magically removed one of Shaq's 4 fouls during the break between the 3rd and 4th quarters so that he would only have 3 going into the fourth AND that Mike James did not touch Damon Jones on that 2nd 4 point play (Jones just fell back after the shot because he lost his footing) AND the no-call on Shaq's last dunk when he literally threw Mutumbo (who had inside position) to the floor on the missed freethrow......are typical of what makes the NBA a farce more and more each season.

This was a great great win for the Rox in light of tonite's officiating.

 

is it common place for an nba player to have a foul removed during quarter changes? if it is then i'm ignorant but my already extremely negative view of the refs in general went down a notch when i heard that about shaq. wtf is that?

minutes later i see dwayne wade barreling into the lane, falls down, untouched mind you, and they give yao his fifth foul when there was two other rockets equally as close to him. i thought these a$$holes protected star players? in that situation isn't the foul 99% of the time given to the lesser teammate? i mean f#$k they TOOK one of shaq's fouls away. i still can't believe that. i really really hope that someone tells me its commonplace.

i think the officiating was equally terrible for both sides and in general i don't think the rockets are unfairly officiated over the course of the year(well with the exception of yao, who clearly is) but this little stretch boggled my mind.

 

cheer up folks... the good guys won tonight! That we won despite the refs makes it just that much sweeter.

 

LMAO!!!
.....so true

 

You brought up good observations, I remembered those plays now and it just boggles the mind what the hell these refs were smoking tonight. Especially that shove that Shaq gave to Deke, he almost landed on the floor near midcourt with that

Don't get me started on the T for Deke smiling, didn't somebody in a Rockets game recently gave a ref the finger and nothing happened? I think it was Tyson Chandler.

 

and people wonder why we dont have a good home record...bc we get screwed over at home... and we know this is certainly NOT the first time where the refs tried to rob us of a win... im glad our boys stuck it out and shoved it back in the ref's faces.

 

chandler is the one who gave the ref a finger but he did get a T for it. deke's thing was one of the most ridiculous tech's i've ever seen though. smiling?

 

Dikembe complains every time they blow the whistle. I saw him laugh, and while it wasn't that big of a deal, the whole crowd was booing and the ref probably wasn't in the mood to hear it. Dike always gives refs that stupid look where his eyes are wide open and he just laughs as if he knows better than them, I'd say we're lucky that he doesn't get a T more often.

 

I noticed all that stuff also, thank you! I might add the Deke block looked clean while Yao getting blocked by Shaq doesn't get the whistle.

However, I did agree with the Deke lane violation call.
Also, it looked like maybe Barry was out of bounds when he saved it, so we could have gotten lucky there had he aimed better. That kind of heave is usually called possession, so no complaint there from me.

Still I agree, a Crawford game is always an extremely tough one for the Rockets to win.

 

I was really surprised at the replay of Shaq throwing Deke - I certainly don't remember us getting many calls last night. I guess it's time for JVG to send a mix-tape to the league (again?). On the last 4 point play, the announcers said he swiped at the ball when he had it down by his waist and touched his wrist, but that was really just a good sell(flop) by Damon Jones - he was just praying for a call and got lucky on the 3.

 

what have become nowadays refs? you can't push or shovel them even if he's on your way (duncan, last season), you can't curse or give them finger, you can't argue with them, ... those are all understandable. now, you can't touch them (yao, a few of games ago), you can't even smile at them!

btw, nice description pippendagimp. also, the one wade hunging on the rim while deke shot and missed... that should be an automatic t. but the refs didn't call it. what are the odds?

 

You know, I just about never complain about officiating. My attitude is, you should win the game, and if you have to whine about the officiating, it means you didn't do everything you could have to win. Be a man.

BUT.

If an NBA referee gives one team a free throw -- ESPECIALLY in a low-scoring game between two top teams -- because a player on the other team smiled at the referee, and the referee didn't like that, that referee should be suspended. Period. That's like a judge giving you an extra 30 days of jail time or an extra fine because he doesn't like some expression on your face that no objective person would classify as contempt of court. That is the corruption of power, pure and simple.

Crawford should be suspended without pay, long enough to send a message to every referee that they're not gods, and if they think they are, they'll be out of a job.

Whoever in Rockets management is responsible in this department -- you had better file a formal complaint about this. It's your job to protect your players from this kind of abuse.

 

That should have been a goaltend more than anything. Deke gets fouled while putting up a shot, which rattles on the rim, WHILE Wade is hanging on it. It was my understanding that if a player touches the rim while the ball is on it is an automatic goaltending. They called Yao for it a couple games ago.

 

Like Will, I seldom to never complain or even mention officiating. However, vs MIA following the opening tip Bobby Sura was called for a ticky-tack foul on the perimeter @ the 11:52 mark by.....you guessed it...Joey Crawford. I mumbled to myself that if that's the way the game is going to be officiated, I know the outcome in advance. Fortunately, Deke proved to be the "bigger man" when the smoke cleared.