Many coaches hate the NBA mandate they participate in on-court, mid-game interviews for all nationally-televised affairs. And you can usually tell how much they hate it based on their icy glares and snarky, one-word responses. Phil Jackson is, unsurprisingly, one of these obviously displeased coaches.But during Game 4, Jackson focused his anger elsewhere, calling first quarter foul calls against his big men "bogus" in his intermission chat with ABC's Doris Burke. Wait, is that public criticism of the referees? A-yep. And for his trouble, Jackson today got hit with a $25,000 fine from the league. As Howard Beck of the New York Time notes, the league forces the coaches to do these interviews ... and then fined the first one to say something interesting. I'll be honest: the whole feature adds almost nothing to the game. If it leads to public criticism of the refs when everyone is watching, something the NBA hates, isn't it hurting?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-13-2009 @ 7:02PM
mislz7 said...
People watch professional basketball?
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6-14-2009 @ 2:32AM
Bryan said...
shut up. Go away. Why are you even on this site. Nobody hear agrees with you because no one is a s ridiculously stupid as you.
If you don't watch professional basketball why read a post about PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL. Your idiocy astounds me. Please remove yourself from this existence.
6-13-2009 @ 7:40PM
Janice said...
The NBA can fine Coach Jackson for calling the calls bogus in the first quarter yet the NBA wont do any thing about Peitrus slamming the back of Pau Gasol or yet how about the 16 fowls they called against the Lakers in the 4th and none against Magic..Seriously they need to figure out what they are doing I mean what ever happened to freedom of speech..Pietrus should be benched for Sundays game yet nothing will be done about his sheisty slam to Gasols back,totally classless and unprofessional..
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6-13-2009 @ 7:55PM
srose56616 said...
So what, fine him. PJ can afford it. Truth hurts doesn't it.
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6-13-2009 @ 8:15PM
John Butler said...
GOT DAMN lol phil can't say shit without a fine
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6-13-2009 @ 10:06PM
wardog424 said...
I was so frustrated watching that game that I had to turn it off, how could Pau Gasol get knocked down by Dwight Howard, but it's Derek Fisher that gets called for a foul? Our local newspaper the Daily Breeze had it right by calling Derek Fisher the hero and the referees the goats, is the NBA going to fine the Daily Breeze too?
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6-13-2009 @ 10:53PM
tonznot said...
no shit....it's about time people realized how "bogus" that reffing was.....gimme a break. It was so damn obvious that these refs had some sort of agenda. I'm not one for conspiracy type issues, but giving that they already busted that last ref for shanking games, how can you not beleive that these frikken refs had an agenda during the 4th game. Christ, all you have to do is look at the difference of times the Lakers went to the free throw line as opposed to the Magic....it's a damn disgrace. It's the damn refs who should be fined and investigated for total corruption.....put that bogus idea in your referee pipe and smoke it! Frikken NBA and all of it's dim witted rules. Screw Stearn and all of his cronies......GO LAKERS!!!
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6-13-2009 @ 10:58PM
tonznot said...
Janice, right on with your comment....
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6-14-2009 @ 12:00AM
Martin said...
Phil Jackson hates these on court interviews, and for good reason. After all, how much meaningful comment can you get in a 10 second sound bite. So he probably figured he would say something that might cause the NBA to decide to stop these stupid interviews.
That being said, his comments appeared quite accurate. Howard continually slammed into Gasol to establish position with no foul called but the refs continually called touch fouls on the Laker bigs. I generally don't subscribe to conspiracy theories involving NBA refs, but after the calls (and non-calls) in this game, I am no longer so sure.
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6-14-2009 @ 5:12PM
walter said...
It's simple . Without the ref's help the magic would of been gone in 4 games . Less revenue for the nba from tv time .
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