The NBA announced on Sunday that David Adelman will be fined $35,000 for his tirade in the Nuggets’ loss to the Rockets on Saturday afternoon. With 8:40 left in the fourth quarter, and Denver trailing by 17, Adelman became incensed with a no-call by the officials as Houston relentlessly hacked at Nikola Jokic.
Mid-play, Adelman marched toward a referee, shouting right in his face, “What the **** are you doing!?” Play was stopped, and Adelman was promptly ejected from the game. And now we find out that he’ll also be fined by the league.
It’s a rare outburst for the normal even keel Adelman, but clearly, he was sick and tired of the way Jokic was being officiated, and wanted to send a message that was much bigger than the moment. This comes on the heels of a victory over this same Rockets squad earlier in the week, which ended with Ime Udoka getting fined for comments about the refs after the game.
This has quickly become a bit of a rivalry with two teams fighting to keep up with the Thunder in the Western Conference. They’ve already met three times early in this season, with Denver winning the first two matchups, leaving the Rockets frustrated. Houston wanted to bounce back, and they did in a big way.
Nuggets working to receive better treatment from officials
This isn’t a trend with the Nuggets receiving a tough whistle. They’re just 12th in the NBA in free-throw attempts despite having an elite offense that thrives inside the arc. For years, Jokic has become a Shaq-like type of dominant big man that is almost impossible to officiate.
We saw him getting beaten and bruised during the tough seven-game loss to the Thunder in the playoffs last season, and it obviously stuck with the team. They made a point in the offseason to employ a more aggressive defensive mindset and talked about being physical to a point of daring the refs to call it every time.
We haven’t fully seen that, but we know that the mindset is there. This bit of gamesmanship by Adelman may cost him in his wallet, but hopefully it will bring attention to the type of refereeing the team is subjected to on a nightly basis, especially Jokic.
So while the team will pay in the short term, ideally, they are investing in wins and a better whistle going forward.