Not one to let Houston’s Rick Adelman do all the campaigning thru the media, Portlant head coach Nate McMillan yesterday risked a likely NBA fine when discussing officiating during the Blazers/Rockets series. From the Oregonian’s Mike Tokito :
“I don’t want Stu (Jackson) to be calling me or anything like that, but if you look at the stat sheet and you look at the way the calls have gone the last couple games, it’s not consistent,” McMillan said.
McMillan is particularly unhappy with the fouls called against his centers, Joel Przybilla (above) and Greg Oden, who have the already-challenging task of trying to contain Yao Ming, the Rockets’ 7-foot-6 All-Star center.
“Our guys, Greg and Joel, are getting called for touch fouls against Yao, and Artest and Battier are riding Brandon Roy every time he runs or he penetrates to the basket,” McMillan said. “I’m just saying that it needs to be called both ways.”
Officiating was a major topic for the Rockets after they lost Game 2 in Portland as Houston coach Rick Adelman complained Thursday that the Blazers had been allowed to manhandle Yao.
“In the first six minutes, they must have called seven or eight fouls on both teams,” Adelman told reporters. “Hand-checking, everything else. Then it was like, ‘Let’s don’t call anything else the rest of the game.’ They literally put their hands on him from outside the free-throw line all the way down.”
McMillan said he was well aware that Adelman had used the media to get this point across.
“No doubt, no doubt,” McMillan said. “He’s talked about that, (then) our guys have been whistled for those calls. What I’m saying is, if you’re going to call it on one end, then call it on both ends.”
On Sunday, the Houston Chronicle’s Richard Justice wrote a column in which he reflected Adelman’s contention that the Blazers were manhandling Yao, writing, “When did basketball become mixed martial arts?”