NBA fines Houston Rockets’ Dillon Brooks & head coach Ime Udoka after ejections. Is it the right call?

While the Rockets newly acquired star is no stranger to disciplinary infractions, one has to wonder when will he learn. As for the team’s coach, it would be fair to say that he should have known better.

NBA fines Dillon Brooks and Ime Udoka but what happened?

According to a league announcement on Tuesday, the NBA has taken the decision to fine both Houston Rockets forward Dillon Brooks and coach Ime Udoka for their actions at the end of Sunday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks. For his part, Brooks was fined $35K for “directing inappropriate language toward a game official and publicly criticizing the officiating,” while Udoka was fined $25K for his language toward an official. As for why both men behaved in the manner they did, it all started from what was perceived as a missed call by officials when the Rockets were trying to overturn a 125-116 deficit in the last minute of the game.

At the time, Brooks deflected a pass from Bucks forward Khris Middleton and was subsequently pushed out of bounds as he kept the ball in play, or at least so it appeared. To add insult to injury - in his mind - the former Memphis Grizzlies player was called for a technical foul for flopping which resulted in a free throw for the Bucks. Needless to say, Brooks wasn’t having it, and so, began to argue with officials about the idea that Middleton should have been called for a foul and not him. As you can imagine, a second technical was forthcoming and it was official Suyash Meta who gave it. It wasn’t long before Udoka joined the fray and was promptly ejected for his troubles.

Dillon Brooks went a step further

While Brooks’ punishment may seem harsh based on the context given above, he likely sealed his fate when he continued post-game, taking the referees to task in a serious way. “[My frustration] was about the call,” Brooks said. “I’m sick of refs being right in front of the play and not making calls. And then compiling it with a bailout call like a flop or something. I ran full speed to get the ball after I made a great play on trying to get a steal.” The 27-year-old Canadian didn’t stop there either, as he went on to speak about what he believed were the dangers involved in officials missing calls.

“Two hands are on me and then after that I’m throwing the ball and trying to protect myself from not falling into the fans or the bottom of the floor - I know a guy got injured like that, done for the season. I’m trying to protect myself and then he wants to call a flop with a minute left, it doesn’t make sense,” he added. “It’s unacceptable for me and that ref shouldn’t even be reffing our games, for real.” If you’re wondering, Brooks has a league-high nine technical fouls to his name so far this season.

Ime Udoka echos Dillon Brooks

It’s interesting to note that the Rockets coach was no less overt in his take on the Brooks situation, but was not punished in the same manner. “It was a blatant missed push out of bounds on that call, obviously,” Udoka said after the loss. “Same refs missing the same calls throughout the game — calling it very quickly or tight on other plays. It was that specific play, but it was a ton of missed calls throughout.” At this point the Rockets are on a two-game losing streak and will face the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, Dec. 20.