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February 12, 2009Bill Simmons on LeBron James: “Historic”
February 12, 2009
Mike Brown was a little less than pleased following two whistles in 0.8 seconds to end the game against the Indiana Pacers. Well, it was really only the second call that had Brown up in arms. He never did settle himself down before talking to the press about Joey Crawford and his seemingly pre-determined makeup call to send the Pacers home with a 96-95 loss.
In fact, Mike Brown had this to say.
“I don’t care if I get fined. It is what it is. I saw the two plays. It was a bad call. He determined the outcome of the game. If they want to fine me for telling the truth, they can fine me for telling the truth.”
Well, I wonder if Mike Brown cares any more today after he found out that he will be taking a $25,000 fine with him to the All-Star break?
Even with this fine, nobody will be confusing Mike Brown for Mark Cuban. And time will tell if Mike’s little rant following the game helps or hurts the Cavs going forward. On the one hand, maybe the officials will start gunning for the Cavs because they might come across as whiners. On the other hand, you have to think that this rant earned Mike some kudos in the locker room amongst his current players. If last night’s results against Phoenix are any indication, it might have at least earned Brown some extra effort from Mo Williams.
13 Comments
Wouldn’t you love to hear the first conversation between Mike and his wife after she hears the news? Or not. Mike’s next call might be to Gilbert: “Uh, Dan, I’m a little tight right now after standing up for the team, and, uh, was wondering …”
I love it…he beats Doc Rivers (recent fine of $15k) in the fine amount too…
we own the Celtics!
@Harv- If Gilbert doesn’t pay the fine, I’m willing to bet a hat gets passed in the locker room. Not that a hat needs to get very far past LeBron James…
The hat should start with Hickson.
/still bitter
i really dont think anything more will come of this, nor do i think the fine will really effect mike brown’s income.
on another note, its always amusing/depressing to see these fines and realize that its not too far off from what i make in a year.
@Rick- but can’t you hear the first conversation with his wife, before he can calm her down? I’m imagining the cartoons where all you can hear from the other end of the phone is the indistinct, high-pitched, non-stop shreiking.
Les Levine said last night on his show that he has heard that Dan Gilbert thinks that David Stern and the NBA “have it in” for the Cavs, which I’m sure is related to Lebron 2010. Glad to see that Dan has acquired the patented Cleveland paranoia.
@Boomhauer
David Stern is on my list of people I’d like to cross paths with alone in a dark alley. I don’t know how much he really wants LeBron out of cleveland, but he’s got his hand waaay too much into the league’s workings and I bet if he can manage to get LeBron in NYC he’ll do whatever he can to accomplish that (see: Patrick Ewing).
Also, Stern running the NBA is almost as out of place as Garth Brooks at the inauguration concert – it just makes no sense.
Do players and/or coaches ever pay these fines? I always assumed that the team picked up these penalties.
players/coaches are supposed to pay these fines…who knows who actually pays them.
however, there is an “out” clause with how they are setup.
the fines go to charities designated by the players/coach. therefore, if Mike Brown was going to donate $25000 to “Better Halves’ (an organization founded by his wife) anyway this year, then he can just say that the fine is going to them and donate it accordingly.
While I’m against coaches getting fined for complaining about the refs(always the most controversial aspect of the game), Stern did get it right by sending that money to charities.
Atleast some good can come of these ridiculous fines.
we played like garbage and lost to a crap team. by no means should the game even have came down to that…they should be ashamed of playing the way they did.
[…] he of the $25,000 fine after slamming Joey Crawford, has been in the officials’ ear a lot more this season. The […]