Another week, another Stiff List! J.R. Smith helps himself to a double helping on this list – he had a busy week. But first: what’s up, Doc?
5) Doc Rivers and a referee beef. Rivers was ejected in a game against the Brooklyn Nets and flat-out lost his mind.
Afterward, Doc said:
“The official, who had nothing to do with the play, thought I was yelling at Lauren (Holtkamp) and I wasn’t. We weren’t. She said I was right and let’s walk back. We weren’t even arguing. It was the damndest tech to give at that time.”
The official who called the second tech, Ken Mauer, was unapologetic afterward, and given his past history of giving away technical fouls like Oprah Winfrey gives away cars, this probably won’t be the last time this comes up.
4) Travels in Phoenix. Speakings of refs: what the heck is happening in this travel? Go to 2:04 of this video (sorry, it’s the only version I could find) and look at what Brandon Knight is doing against the Nuggets. He’s having a dance party out there, no dribbling required, and the refs just shrug it off. Why bother having a rule if you don’t plan to call the 9-step perimeter travel?
3) JaVale being JaVale. I’m happy for JaVale McGee that he’s happy, healthy, and in a good situation. But dear God, this is classic JaVale.
2) J.R. Smith going 1-for-22 in 2 combined games. Smith must have had too much turkey for Thanksgiving, because it was a bad week for him. He started it out by putting up a brickfest from all over the floor, and finished with the #1 spot below.
1) This masterpiece will go down as one of J.R.’s most J.R. moments: shaking hands with an opponent on the bench instead of, you know, participating in the play that’s going on.
There is a game happening, J.R. Save the hellos and chest-bumps for after the game. He probably can’t hear me over the shine of his championship ring, but these are the things that make the Stiff List, guaranteed.
