Fred VanVleet isn’t any stranger to blowing up at NBA officers, however his tiff with the referees within the closing seconds of the Houston Rockets’ 104-98 loss to the Portland Path Blazers on Saturday night time was excessive even by his requirements — which is why it finally resulted in a $50,000 superb that the league introduced on Monday, Nov. 25.
It’s nonetheless not clear particularly what VanVleet was so upset about, as he demurred to dig a deeper gap when requested about officiating after the sport. Nonetheless, eagle-eyed lip-readers on-line appeared to catch him calling every ref “a b—-” — and almost poking one within the eye! — whereas getting ejected with 4.1 seconds left within the recreation on Saturday night time:
VanVleet will (seemingly) solely keep away from suspension as a result of an alternate angle made it clear he simply narrowly prevented making contact with crew umpire John Conley, which might have seemingly seen him sidelined for some time:
Fred VanVleet 100% simply copped a suspension on the finish of this recreation…
Advised the ref “you’re a b*tch and pointed his finger proper in his face” pic.twitter.com/iNjLJ3EFeg
— Bradeaux (@BradeauxNBA) November 24, 2024
That is simply essentially the most expletive-filled eruption I can recall cameras catching between a participant and referees since Kelly Oubre insulted a complete officiating crews’ bloodlines final March.
However the NBA might have made VanVleet suppose this sort of conduct can get him good outcomes. In 2023, VanVleet was fined $30,000 for calling referee Ben Taylor “f—ing horrible.” That will not sound good on its face… till you understand the NBA unofficially demoted Taylor by not giving him crew chief assignments following VanVleet’s detonation.
So whereas VanVleet positively earned his superb right here, if it ends in Conley dealing with comparable penalties to his outdated enemy Taylor… the Rockets guard could also be pleased with the trade-off.
