December 4, 2024 • 10 mins
If you missed it last night, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka was VERY angry with NBA official John Goble. The A-Team talks about Udoka's comments about Goble getting emotional about his calls last night. One member of The A-Team (I'm sure you can guess) is very annoyed with how officials and umpires are handled in our professional leagues.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
But I wanted to go back to last night we're
(00:02):
sleeping on. I think it's sneaky, maybe even a better
SoundBite than the one we've been playing the last hour
and change. So yeah, we've heard em Udoka talk about,
you know, the difference in the calls and tell them
to get their glasses and whatnot. He's very concerned with
their lack of eyewear. But here's the thing, and each
(00:23):
day should go to Berkeley I Center. By the way,
here's the thing. He said something last night that while
it's going to probably be quickly dismissed as just a
snide remark to kind of maybe throw a cheap insult
at them, it's actually a thing in the NBA. And
I'll let you hear what he had to say first.
In the particular term, it's going to be very obvious.
(00:45):
See if you can hone in on the word I'm
talking about here from Ema Udoka, take.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Your sensitivity and emotions out of it and call the
game the right way. It's obvious right in front of you,
and John Goebble, whoever it was, see it and doesn't
call it and let them know about it.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Actually, I stand corrected. It was two words sensitivity and emotions. Now,
while again that might sound like he's just trying to
be dismissive or insulting or whatever, how many times do
we see NBA officials blatantly getting too emotionally charged and
frankly just from reading body language, sensitive about something that's
(01:24):
going on on the floor, and making themselves too much
a part of things, or however you want to phrase
or characterize it. I've said this a million times and
I still maintain it as much as I come in
here and complain about stupid umpires in Major League Baseball
every other day of the summer, and as much as
this guy has to roll his eyes because he has
to hear about it again. NBA officiating, by far is
(01:48):
the worst in professional sports, and it's not close.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
They have more of an impact on what happens over
the course of the game, which is unfortunate. I'm not
saying they impact the outcome in any greater way, because
home played umpire could have a phenomenal night and then
at the most inopportune time, a three to two pitch
that's right down the middle, he sends the guy to
first base, and then the next hitter hits a home run.
(02:14):
And you lose four to three when you should have
won three to two. That's a huge impact on the game.
But over the course of the game, he didn't really
have any negative impact on the game. Be called like
you saw it, and he was accurate all throughout the night.
NBA officials, because of the flow of a basketball game,
it's very, very different, and even in the NFL, I
kind of feel the same way as I do about baseball.
They're gonna miss calls. It's pretty much a given. It's
(02:36):
going to impact the game. You miss a personal foul here,
a face mask there, clear PI guy gets there too early,
you don't call anything. Guys his arm wrapped around the
waste of the receiver and twists him before the ball
gets there, and that's why he wasn't able to haul
it in. They missed so many calls over the course
of the game, and yet if the timing of one
of those calls comes late, we really feel like, well,
that's that's everything right there. You kind of overlook some
(02:58):
of the others. NBA is just a NonStop stream. That's
why you see the emotions from the coach. That's why
you see he's not mad that Alpera and Shangoun drove
on Demonisa Bonus was fouled a couple times and didn't
get called. He was mad because they'd been playing basketball
for forty six minutes and that had continued to happen
(03:18):
over the course of the game. It's so it's simplistic
to yeah, I'm watching my guy go through the lane
and get hammered and nothing gets called. The other guy
goes through the lane and somebody grabbed a thread off
of his jersey and you sent it to the free
throw line.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
It's just a very, very different thing.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
But I would actually say what we heard in the
first hour, the words that talked about their vision needing
glasses versus what we heard here about emotions and sensitivity.
Either one of them alone would have Imai Doka with
a sizeable fine because of the manner in which he
spoke about the integrity of the officials. Now it's just
(03:52):
gonna be an even bigger fine because he did it
more than once. He did it very intentionally. It's not
an accident. These words weren't. Oh I wish I had said.
He meant what he said. He said it in a
way that it was very unfortunately from his pocketbook intentional.
I don't think there's a suspension coming or necessary.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
It happened. You'll get he'll hear from the league and
they'll all move on.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
But when I say that, I hope.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
We know that emotions and sensitivities. It's game twenty two.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
They got sixty games left, plus playoffs plus potentially the
title game of the NBA Cup. John Goebel is going
to referee more Rockets games, and again all directed in him.
He happened to be the official involved in this case.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
A couple of things. You're adding another name to a list.
I shouldn't know any names on nobody should.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, we know them. We talk about him every game.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
No, for all the wrong reasons.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
No, because we're all comes in here and says, man
John Goebble's had a great game last night officiating.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
That guy's a great No.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Nobody ever says that we come in here to talk
about them by name because they're awful.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
And here's the other part.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
When I say they're the worst in sports by far,
part of that equation, part of what goes into that statement,
which I absolutely one hundred percent mean and stand behind,
is that the the thing that you just mentioned the fallout,
because then when you dare to criticize the all powerful
officiating cruise in the NBA, here comes Adam Silver with
(05:10):
a fine on top of the fine you were already
gonna get for your two technicals. And it's egregious, it's gross.
There's no accountability, just like in Major League Baseball. Basically
you're told, look, I'm not gonna go totally bend. Debo's
on you here. But we all know what he talks
about on Twitter. He's taken the mantle, he's taken the baton.
You can call him over the top if you want,
(05:31):
but nine times out of ten, when it comes down
to like the letter of the law at the heart
of things, I agree with him because there's never ever
accountabilit when's the last time you heard, all right, this
guy is the last time we heard about it.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
It involved a Rockets game.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
It was in nineteen ninety five and jac O'Donnell never
officiated a game again because he threw Clyde Drexeler out
of a playoff game, and the mayor of Houston's wife
had to get involved in things for them to even
move their asses and do something about it. I'm so's
hired of that aspect of every major sport I watch,
not watching for you guys that make these calls to
(06:06):
be the star of the show and when you become
the star of the show, which I don't think really
was the case last night, but it is too many times.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
But the problem is whether it is or isn't.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Every time someone like emy Udoka or anybody else that
has a legitimate gripe then verbalizes it, they get hammered
again and no one ever has anything to say except
for the guy who's talking to the one pool reporter,
because that's how they also do things in the NBA
and other leagues.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yeah, I understand he may wanted to make a point.
Twenty twenty five thirty minutes after the game. He can
make a point and maybe say it in a different way.
He's probably not gonna get fine. He's been fine before
as Rockets head coach for directing inappropriate language toward a
game official the same night that Dylan Brooks was fined
for publicly criticizing the officiating and directing the inappropriate language
(06:55):
toward a game official. Emay Audok is probably looking at
least was fined twenty five thousand before and these are
again it's I don't want to call it a small
number to the amount of money that's being made, it
is a small number, and it's not even really I
don't know if it serves as an atturnent in their
two cases or anybody else's, but yeah, it is a
(07:15):
little bit like what we're talking about in the NFL
side Saturday, definitively, unless somebody reports it first, we'll see
what number figure is attached to Aziz al Shaier, because
there's essentially a They already have a formula for if
you've done this, this is your fine. If you've done
it for a second time, this is your fine. Because
of all the things that took place there, in addition
to being ejected from the game and hurting his team
(07:38):
with the decision the officials made by ejecting him, his
decision for the hit he made well, he made you
dope is different because he's a coach, but Alprin Shakun
obviously is not. I mean, they were probably not going
to come back at that stage of the game, but by.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Getting ejected, you hurt his team.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Hurt his team by putting them at the free throw
line and not being available to your team and you're
assessed a fine for a technical and potentially you draw
more for something you might have said. Luckily he didn't
say anything from his pocketbook after the game.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Well, if Fred van Vleet didn't get suspended for calling
each one of the three the name that he did,
then I don't think I may is no. Even though
he kind of how would you call it menacingly? You know,
he kind of lunged at him a little bit, but
it was a very slight lunge.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
To me, There's there's nothing out of the ordinary that
he did on the court as it relates to other coaches.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Getting You don't think if Fred van Vliet was in
between them that he might not have made contact or
even kind of chest bumped him a little bit.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
I mean, it's certainly as possible, yes, but I always
think Fred had.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
It was more like Fred just happened to be there.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
I don't think Fred was like, oh, I better hold
the may back or he's about to get to him.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
I better get the way. Well, others were another point
during that exchange.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
That point of the exchange is the part we usually mock.
Let me adam, let me ad him are there five
guys in front of me. Perfect, But I don't mean
it that way. I mean, I may was not going
to hit the official.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I think the official was worried he might. Though you
cannot tell me. You saw the reaction of that official
and thought, oh, he's.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Court plenty of times that not hit the officifty pounds
anywhere near that big. It doesn't even matter how big
he is. He's is I rate as a coach gets.
It's pretty rare now. It used to happen a long
time ago, Matt Thomas's era. It used to happen a
lot more often where coaches would go way out of line.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Don Nelson would do it.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Yeah, you know other coaches from They went out there
and they bumped into the official intentionally. I mean Jason
Kidd did do that also, but I think he tried
to pretend it was unintentional. Still drink, that's different. That
was another different bump also, Jason Kidd. I think so
I could have that wrong. I know everybody remembers that, Hey,
it happened. I don't think there's there should be no
(09:51):
more future consequences, and this should absolutely not turn into
something that's Chris Paul Scott Foster. He may don't get
got mad at the official they're going to talk before.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
My impressionist Chris Paul doing an impression of Scott Foster.
You ready count me down, three, two, one. That's my
favorite gift out there. Man, it's so good that tomorrow night, Yeah,
that'll be fine. I mean I would like for them
to kill two birds with one stone and take out
the Warriors and also in that streak, take out their
(10:21):
frustrations after that loss last night
But I wanted to go back to last night we're
(00:02):
sleeping on. I think it's sneaky, maybe even a better
SoundBite than the one we've been playing the last hour
and change. So yeah, we've heard em Udoka talk about,
you know, the difference in the calls and tell them
to get their glasses and whatnot. He's very concerned with
their lack of eyewear. But here's the thing, and each
(00:23):
day should go to Berkeley I Center. By the way,
here's the thing. He said something last night that while
it's going to probably be quickly dismissed as just a
snide remark to kind of maybe throw a cheap insult
at them, it's actually a thing in the NBA. And
I'll let you hear what he had to say first.
In the particular term, it's going to be very obvious.
(00:45):
See if you can hone in on the word I'm
talking about here from Ema Udoka, take.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Your sensitivity and emotions out of it and call the
game the right way. It's obvious right in front of you,
and John Goebble, whoever it was, see it and doesn't
call it and let them know about it.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Actually, I stand corrected. It was two words sensitivity and emotions. Now,
while again that might sound like he's just trying to
be dismissive or insulting or whatever, how many times do
we see NBA officials blatantly getting too emotionally charged and
frankly just from reading body language, sensitive about something that's
(01:24):
going on on the floor, and making themselves too much
a part of things, or however you want to phrase
or characterize it. I've said this a million times and
I still maintain it as much as I come in
here and complain about stupid umpires in Major League Baseball
every other day of the summer, and as much as
this guy has to roll his eyes because he has
to hear about it again. NBA officiating, by far is
(01:48):
the worst in professional sports, and it's not close.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
They have more of an impact on what happens over
the course of the game, which is unfortunate. I'm not
saying they impact the outcome in any greater way, because
home played umpire could have a phenomenal night and then
at the most inopportune time, a three to two pitch
that's right down the middle, he sends the guy to
first base, and then the next hitter hits a home run.
(02:14):
And you lose four to three when you should have
won three to two. That's a huge impact on the game.
But over the course of the game, he didn't really
have any negative impact on the game. Be called like
you saw it, and he was accurate all throughout the night.
NBA officials, because of the flow of a basketball game,
it's very, very different, and even in the NFL, I
kind of feel the same way as I do about baseball.
They're gonna miss calls. It's pretty much a given. It's
(02:36):
going to impact the game. You miss a personal foul here,
a face mask there, clear PI guy gets there too early,
you don't call anything. Guys his arm wrapped around the
waste of the receiver and twists him before the ball
gets there, and that's why he wasn't able to haul
it in. They missed so many calls over the course
of the game, and yet if the timing of one
of those calls comes late, we really feel like, well,
that's that's everything right there. You kind of overlook some
(02:58):
of the others. NBA is just a NonStop stream. That's
why you see the emotions from the coach. That's why
you see he's not mad that Alpera and Shangoun drove
on Demonisa Bonus was fouled a couple times and didn't
get called. He was mad because they'd been playing basketball
for forty six minutes and that had continued to happen
(03:18):
over the course of the game. It's so it's simplistic
to yeah, I'm watching my guy go through the lane
and get hammered and nothing gets called. The other guy
goes through the lane and somebody grabbed a thread off
of his jersey and you sent it to the free
throw line.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
It's just a very, very different thing.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
But I would actually say what we heard in the
first hour, the words that talked about their vision needing
glasses versus what we heard here about emotions and sensitivity.
Either one of them alone would have Imai Doka with
a sizeable fine because of the manner in which he
spoke about the integrity of the officials. Now it's just
(03:52):
gonna be an even bigger fine because he did it
more than once. He did it very intentionally. It's not
an accident. These words weren't. Oh I wish I had said.
He meant what he said. He said it in a
way that it was very unfortunately from his pocketbook intentional.
I don't think there's a suspension coming or necessary.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
It happened. You'll get he'll hear from the league and
they'll all move on.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
But when I say that, I hope.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
We know that emotions and sensitivities. It's game twenty two.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
They got sixty games left, plus playoffs plus potentially the
title game of the NBA Cup. John Goebel is going
to referee more Rockets games, and again all directed in him.
He happened to be the official involved in this case.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
A couple of things. You're adding another name to a list.
I shouldn't know any names on nobody should.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, we know them. We talk about him every game.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
No, for all the wrong reasons.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
No, because we're all comes in here and says, man
John Goebble's had a great game last night officiating.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
That guy's a great No.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Nobody ever says that we come in here to talk
about them by name because they're awful.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
And here's the other part.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
When I say they're the worst in sports by far,
part of that equation, part of what goes into that statement,
which I absolutely one hundred percent mean and stand behind,
is that the the thing that you just mentioned the fallout,
because then when you dare to criticize the all powerful
officiating cruise in the NBA, here comes Adam Silver with
(05:10):
a fine on top of the fine you were already
gonna get for your two technicals. And it's egregious, it's gross.
There's no accountability, just like in Major League Baseball. Basically
you're told, look, I'm not gonna go totally bend. Debo's
on you here. But we all know what he talks
about on Twitter. He's taken the mantle, he's taken the baton.
You can call him over the top if you want,
(05:31):
but nine times out of ten, when it comes down
to like the letter of the law at the heart
of things, I agree with him because there's never ever
accountabilit when's the last time you heard, all right, this
guy is the last time we heard about it.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
It involved a Rockets game.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
It was in nineteen ninety five and jac O'Donnell never
officiated a game again because he threw Clyde Drexeler out
of a playoff game, and the mayor of Houston's wife
had to get involved in things for them to even
move their asses and do something about it. I'm so's
hired of that aspect of every major sport I watch,
not watching for you guys that make these calls to
(06:06):
be the star of the show and when you become
the star of the show, which I don't think really
was the case last night, but it is too many times.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
But the problem is whether it is or isn't.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Every time someone like emy Udoka or anybody else that
has a legitimate gripe then verbalizes it, they get hammered
again and no one ever has anything to say except
for the guy who's talking to the one pool reporter,
because that's how they also do things in the NBA
and other leagues.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yeah, I understand he may wanted to make a point.
Twenty twenty five thirty minutes after the game. He can
make a point and maybe say it in a different way.
He's probably not gonna get fine. He's been fine before
as Rockets head coach for directing inappropriate language toward a
game official the same night that Dylan Brooks was fined
for publicly criticizing the officiating and directing the inappropriate language
(06:55):
toward a game official. Emay Audok is probably looking at
least was fined twenty five thousand before and these are
again it's I don't want to call it a small
number to the amount of money that's being made, it
is a small number, and it's not even really I
don't know if it serves as an atturnent in their
two cases or anybody else's, but yeah, it is a
(07:15):
little bit like what we're talking about in the NFL
side Saturday, definitively, unless somebody reports it first, we'll see
what number figure is attached to Aziz al Shaier, because
there's essentially a They already have a formula for if
you've done this, this is your fine. If you've done
it for a second time, this is your fine. Because
of all the things that took place there, in addition
to being ejected from the game and hurting his team
(07:38):
with the decision the officials made by ejecting him, his
decision for the hit he made well, he made you
dope is different because he's a coach, but Alprin Shakun
obviously is not. I mean, they were probably not going
to come back at that stage of the game, but by.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Getting ejected, you hurt his team.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Hurt his team by putting them at the free throw
line and not being available to your team and you're
assessed a fine for a technical and potentially you draw
more for something you might have said. Luckily he didn't
say anything from his pocketbook after the game.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Well, if Fred van Vleet didn't get suspended for calling
each one of the three the name that he did,
then I don't think I may is no. Even though
he kind of how would you call it menacingly? You know,
he kind of lunged at him a little bit, but
it was a very slight lunge.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
To me, There's there's nothing out of the ordinary that
he did on the court as it relates to other coaches.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Getting You don't think if Fred van Vliet was in
between them that he might not have made contact or
even kind of chest bumped him a little bit.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
I mean, it's certainly as possible, yes, but I always
think Fred had.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
It was more like Fred just happened to be there.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
I don't think Fred was like, oh, I better hold
the may back or he's about to get to him.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
I better get the way. Well, others were another point
during that exchange.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
That point of the exchange is the part we usually mock.
Let me adam, let me ad him are there five
guys in front of me. Perfect, But I don't mean
it that way. I mean, I may was not going
to hit the official.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I think the official was worried he might. Though you
cannot tell me. You saw the reaction of that official
and thought, oh, he's.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Court plenty of times that not hit the officifty pounds
anywhere near that big. It doesn't even matter how big
he is. He's is I rate as a coach gets.
It's pretty rare now. It used to happen a long
time ago, Matt Thomas's era. It used to happen a
lot more often where coaches would go way out of line.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Don Nelson would do it.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Yeah, you know other coaches from They went out there
and they bumped into the official intentionally. I mean Jason
Kidd did do that also, but I think he tried
to pretend it was unintentional. Still drink, that's different. That
was another different bump also, Jason Kidd. I think so
I could have that wrong. I know everybody remembers that, Hey,
it happened. I don't think there's there should be no
(09:51):
more future consequences, and this should absolutely not turn into
something that's Chris Paul Scott Foster. He may don't get
got mad at the official they're going to talk before.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
My impressionist Chris Paul doing an impression of Scott Foster.
You ready count me down, three, two, one. That's my
favorite gift out there. Man, it's so good that tomorrow night, Yeah,
that'll be fine. I mean I would like for them
to kill two birds with one stone and take out
the Warriors and also in that streak, take out their
(10:21):
frustrations after that loss last night
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