Meeting with officials brings mixed emotions
LOS ANGELES >> A group of players and referees met Saturday in Los Angeles to discuss their tense relations this season.
Warriors’ forward Draymond Green, who leads the NBA in technical fouls (14), was less than enthusiastic when asked about the meeting. What came out of it? “I’m not sure,” Green said.
What needs to change? “We got more of an understanding, I guess,” Green said. “I’m not sure.”
What’s been the cause of the problems this season?
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out now,” Green said.
Green is two technical fouls shy of receiving an automatic one-game suspension. He’s also second in the league in ejections (three), behind Warriors’ forward Kevin Durant (four). Durant is tied with Dwight Howard for third in the league in technical fouls with 11, behind Russell Westbrook’s 12.
“We’re not the only team getting techs and getting thrown out of the game, so something different is going on,” Durant said. “We’ll figure that out. Sometimes you want to voice your opinion to the refs, and sometimes you should just focus on the game. We’ve got to do a better job of just focussing on the game sometimes. But there’s passion involved, and sometimes it’s heat of the moment. We get that. It’s never personal.”
According to a news release from the National Basketball Referees Association, the meeting “was incredibly productive in terms of opening up the lines of communication between both groups and beginning the process of
improving relations.”
Commissioner Adam Silver said that nothing is out of the ordinary this season with the referees in terms of league data, but he noted that some players feel differently.
“There is a perception right now that there is an issue,” Silver said. “We want to use that as an opportunity.”
Silver said the meeting Saturday showed progress in the right direction.
“The fact that we have players and referees sitting down and talking about these issues, as I said, can only improve things,” he said. MITCHELL WINS DUNK CONTEST >> Rookie Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz edged Larry Nance Jr. by two points to win Saturday night’s dunk contest. His winning dunk was a close approximation of the 360-degree spin dunk that Vince Carter used to win the 2000 contest.
“I wanted this so badly,” Mitchell said. “This is one of my favorite events of All-Star weekend. To not only be in it, but to win it, it’s crazy.”
Before making his winning dunk, Mitchell peeled off his Jazz jersey and wore a vintage Carter jersey from the Toronto
Raptors.
Nance, who was trying to win the contest 34 years after his father won it, advanced to the finals with a perfect 50 with a dunk off a double alleyoop off the glass. DINWIDDIE TOPS IN SKILLS EVENT >> Spencer Dinwiddie of the Brooklyn Nets won the skills challenge to kick off the festivities.
Dinwiddie beat Lauri Markkanen of the Chicago Bulls in the final round. Eight players started the competition that involved dribbling around pylons, passing the ball into a net, dribbling to the other end of the floor for a layup and then dribbling back to the other end to take a pullup 3-pointer. KIDD, NASH FINALISTS FOR
HALL OF FAME >> Two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash and fellow star point guard Jason Kidd, Grant Hill and Ray Allen are among the 13 finalists for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Maurice Cheeks and Chris Webber also made the cut, with the finalists announced Saturday morning as part of the NBA All-Star weekend.
Charles “Lefty” Driesell, Rudy Tomjanovich and Baylor’s Kim Mulkey made the final ballot as coaches. Katie Smith, Tina Thompson and longtime NBA official Hugh Evans are also finalists. The 1953-58 Wayland Baptist University teams that won 131 consecutive games and four AAU national championships is the lone team finalist.
Finalists must receive 18 votes from the 24-member honors committee to be enshrined. The entire class will be unveiled during the NCAA Final Four in San Antonio.