With March Madness in full swing, the eyes of the basketball world are fixed on one of the most exciting collegiate sports tournaments in the world. March Madness is usually a great glimpse into the stars of tomorrow in basketball, as they try to find glory with their current collegiate team. But one NBA legend was not happy with what he saw on the court during a game.
During the game between Illinois and Houston, Illinois’ Raul Melendez dunked the ball and hung onto the rim right after. But surprisingly, he was given a technical for hanging. Reggie Miller was furious about the technical, noting that Melendez’s body momentum forced him to hang, rather than him wanting to showboat, and that was not a good call from the referee.
Reggie Miller not having any of this lame ass technical call for hanging on the rim. pic.twitter.com/1zFwoVJGeI
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 20, 2022
“Absolutely not. I’m sorry. First of all, his momentum is taking him, he has to swing back. You can not give this young man a technical for this. He’s not showing up or anything. Because if he doesn’t, he is gonna almost kill himself. You gotta swing a little on the rim right here.”
Miller is absolutely right in calling out the officiating from the referee. Melendez wasn’t trying to show off, it was simply to protect himself. If he hadn’t hung on to the rim, he would have had to risk falling and landing awkwardly on either his legs or even his back. There has been a real discrepancy when it comes to referees and officiating in basketball the last few years.
March Madness wasn’t the only sight of controversial refereeing decisions. Last night, during the Warriors’ game against the Spurs, Draymond Green was given a technical foul for protesting, and he responded by sharing some choice words against the referees. Referees have been under fire for quite some time, and decisions like these don’t really help their case.
