The Rockets pummeled the Nuggets on Saturday afternoon, 115-101, in a game that got testy and saw David Adelman ejected early in the fourth quarter. Following the game, Adelman was asked about his exchange with a referee and explained,
"I was confused, and so I was just looking for answers, and I went out there to find them, and turns out I had to leave. Sometimes confusion can lead to destructive things, right? It seemed like (the ref) just kept walking away further and further."
Surely, Adelman was being a little tongue-in-cheek here, as his way of “looking for answers” included charging at the ref mid-play and screaming in his face, “What the **** are you doing!?” The Nuggets’ coach was clearly looking to make a statement, and certainly knew he’d be ejected.
He was fed up with the way his team was being officiated, especially his superstar Nikola Jokic, and with his team down 17 with under nine minutes to play, he decided he had seen enough. He flipped out and was promptly tossed, mockingly expressing this ‘confusion’ after the game.
To add to the fun, the league announced that Adelman was being fined $35,000 on Sunday, which was to be expected. Sometimes, it’s just necessary to make a point, and the money (that the owners will surely cover) will become an afterthought if it actually leads to a change.
Nuggets could use more beneficial officiating
The Nuggets don’t get a constantly atrocious whistle or anything, but Jokic is very tough to officiate, and he takes more abuse than most players. Part of that is because he is so big, strong, and has such great hands that he’s able to withstand a lot of contact and successfully play through it.
But that’s no excuse for the refs to be missing so many calls. They allow physical teams like the Thunder to beat up guys like Jamal Murray and Jokic in a way that drastically changes the game. Part of that is to be expected, and there’s nothing wrong with physicality as long as it’s fair and called both ways.
While Adelman’s tirade cost him financially, the hope is that it will bring light to some of these issues and cast some attention on Jokic and the whistle he gets. Ideally, the league and the refs will take a closer look at this, and with any luck, maybe we actually see a tangible change in the way Nuggets games are officiated.