Rockets Claim Jazz Are Cheating
The Utah Jazz are running the pick-and-roll to perfection, unless you ask the Houston Rockets. They feel the Jazz are getting away with illegal moving screens.
The Rockets are finding a lot to complain about after just two games of the Western Conference finals. Utah leads the best-of-7 series 2-0 going into Game 3 Friday night.
The complaints came after the Jazz’s 104-92 victory Wednesday night. A day earlier, the Houston Chronicle quoted Hakeem Olajuwon complaining about the Jazz.
“This team is a bunch of pretenders,” Olajuwon said of Utah. “They want to look like good guys all of the time. They want the NBA and the whole world to believe they are good guys, but the truth is that they are bad guys, very bad guys.
“This is a dirty team. They play in a way that is cheap and dirty. They do things that are not within the rules - elbows, picks where they are trying to hurt you, a lot of stuff like that. I cannot respect that style.”
According to the rule book, players setting picks must stand still.
Midway through the fourth quarter Wednesday, the Rockets’ Charles Barkley was called for a flagrant foul when he flattened John Stockton.
Asked why, Barkley said matter-of-factly: “Obviously the refs are not going to do their jobs and they’re going to let him set moving picks. I was trying to separate his shoulder or break a rib. I was serious.”
Clippers give Fitch extension
Bill Fitch, who has coached more games than anyone else in NBA history, has signed a two-year contract extension with the Los Angeles Clippers. Terms were not disclosed.
Notes
For the second time in two weeks, the Chicago Bulls have been fined for failing to make players available to the media after practice. The $50,000 levy was double the penalty imposed May 8 by the NBA. … Portland Trail Blazers forward Isaiah Rider was convicted of possessing marijuana, and fined $500. … Dallas Mavericks forward Kurt Thomas will likely be sidelined for three months after he undergoes surgery Tuesday on his chronically injured right ankle.