Referees in the Portland Trail Blazers’ first game against the Grizzlies blew their whistles relentlessly. Hopefully, that dissipates instead of continues.
Here’s a fun fact: Portland Trail Blazers players Hassan Whiteside, CJ McCollum, Damian Lillard and Carmelo Anthony are in the top 30 of players to receive technical fouls this season.
Did the Blazers’ tech-prone players factor into why five technical fouls were called in their game against the Memphis Grizzlies on July 31?
Let’s refer to the official NBA Rulebook.
There are six ways to receive a technical foul in the NBA: excessive timeouts, delay-of-game, number of players, basket ring/backboard support, conduct and fighting.
If you watched the game, you’d know we can eliminate every other violation and examine solely conduct.
Under conduct, the referees can assess a technical foul for seven unsportsmanlike acts which are disrespectfully addressing an official, physically contacting an official, overtly indicating resentment to a call or no-call, using profanity, coaches entering the court without an official’s permission, deliberately throwing an elbow or any unnatural physical act towards an opponent with no contact involved and taunting.
In the game, profanity and taunting were particularly present and seemed to make the refs irate.
On one particular play, the hot-handed McCollum who scored 33 points made a contested three over the Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks, then turned around to make a celebratory gesture to his teammates on the bench.
The whistle blows. Technical foul on white, number three.
Sitting on my living room floor with furrowed eyebrows and a puzzled grimace, I was just as confused as CJ.
Why were the referees being so sensitive? Surely, Bill Kennedy, David Guthrie and Gediminas Petraitis with 42 years of NBA referee experience combined have seen worse taunting and profanity than what they experienced in that game. There is no way they could be so sensitive after doing what they do for so many years.
Maybe not. But the lack of fans probably made them sensitive.
Obscene gestures and words become more noticeable without loud cheers and lively arena music.
Yes. The virtual fans are a nice, innovative touch. However, they cannot begin to match real live cries of joy, clamorous thunder sticks and boisterous chants of “defense”.
The refs have fewer diversions and heightened perception.
My hope is the oversensitivity to trash talking, showboating and dirty words does not become commonplace among the officials.
They must have thick skin and understand that players need to play as they usually do in order to feel some sense of normalcy in the offbeat, unconventional setup in Orlando.