The Houston Rockets were upset by the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday and Fred VanVleet was pointing the finger at the officials. Literally. With four seconds remaining and the Rockets down by five, VanVleet was whistled for an offensive foul and proceeded to point at every ref on the floor while offering some NSFW words.
That got him ejected, and on the way out he came extremely close to jamming his finger into the face of official John Conley. This is going to cost him a lot of money, and potentially some games in the form of a suspension.
Fred Van Vleet commits a frustration foul then points to each referee individually and tells them "you suck, you suck, and you suck... bitch asses" then points at the referee who ejects him and says "you're a bitch" pic.twitter.com/eo4wjnj4W6
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) November 24, 2024
VanVleet's frustration with the officials seemingly stemmed from the possession before his ejection, when he felt he was fouled on a 3-point attempt with the Rockets trailing by three. After the game, VanVleet told reporters that he could hear the Portland bench instructing Toumani Camara to intentionally foul with the Blazers trying to protect a three-point lead, and that he felt he anticipated Camara's contact by going into his shooting motion. You can be the judge if this is a natural shooting motion, but nonetheless, VanVleet didn't get the call.
Even if it is contact the refs aren’t calling a foul. That is a bad play by VanVleet. No way around it. pic.twitter.com/osNT0XJEKB
— Lachard Binkley (@BinkleyHoops) November 24, 2024
To be fair, crew chief Courtney Kirkland admitted after the game that a foul should have been called on Camara, but that it would not have resulted in free throws for VanVleet as the contact occurred before the shot.
"In live action, we felt that the defender stayed directly on the path of VanVleet during his attempted motion toward the basket," Kirkland said. "After video review, we see the defender did close space and did make contact with the hip of VanVleet and a foul should have been called. However, shots would not have been awarded on the play."
As for VanVleet's ejection, Kirkland confirmed what everyone could see: "VanVleet was ejected on one technical foul for his vulgar language and pointing at all three officials."
Again, we'll await word on whatever punishment the league decides is appropriate for VanVleet, but you can bet he's not getting off scot-free for this. A fine is a near certainty, and it would not be surprising if a suspension is handed down as well.
