Don't play a zone defense in the NBA!

October 12, 2007

.. or you will be ejected! Since Manel was wondering what happened in Houston with Coach Obradovic getting kicked out of the game (Panathinaikos vs. Houston Rockets) and a total of six! technical fouls I did some research on the game. Unfortunately nba.com did not provide any information about this.

Thanks to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle we know what happened in Houston:

With his temper and blood pressure rising with every illegal-defense whistle, legendary Panathinaikos coach Zelimir Obradovic, winner of six Euroleague championships, began shouting, “It’s a zone defense, a zone defense.”

As he again and again called out, “A zone defense,” a thought bubble nearly popped above official Rodney Mott’s head saying, “That’s why it’s illegal.”

Instead, Mott more diplomatically offered, “You can’t do that here.”

With nearly every team in the NBA EUROPE Live tournament playing a zone defense I don’t know what the regulations were for this game in Houston, but since it was held as a NBA Europe Live event I guess this was legal.

 

 

 

 

ballineurope
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This post was published on October 12, 2007
NBA vs. Europe: 3:1"The bugs will never win!"
Comments: 6
  1. Manel
    17 years ago

    hey guys, thanks so much for the info.. I was planning to do some research myself this afternoon, but you made it first..
    very funny story, BTW.

    I think somebody mentioned that these games are playing according to NBA rules

    Thanks again!

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  2. 17 years ago

    These games against Houston and San Antonio are not part of NBA Europe Live Tour, so zone defense was illegal..
    As i Panathinaikos fan, i still don’t understand the meaning of playing two games with NBA rules (rules that we won’t face again) only for marketing reasons.. It was meaningless, a waste of time..

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  3. 17 years ago

    So why did the Houston Rockets announce this game as a NBA Europe LIVE tour event on their website? Same for the Spurs – check the website and you will see the Logo of the NBA Europe Live tour..

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  4. 17 years ago

    Probably the people who are responsible don’t seem to pay attention for things like that. I remind that some days before the NBA Europe LIVE tour, the map on NBA.com presented 8 Greek islands as Turkish. We talk about basketball, not politics or geography, but they have to be more careful with things like that.
    Many people stayed awake to see the game vs. Houston on TV (it was 3:30 o’clock in the morning here in Greece). Finally, they watched Houston shooting 27 free throws in the 1st half (Panathinaikos shooted 2 free throws instead!!) and 5 technical fouls commited to us for NBA rules.. Houston players were playing the basketball they play for years and Panathinaikos players were trying to learn in one single game the NBA rules.. It was like a joke..

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  5. Manel
    17 years ago

    Hey Drazen, I totally understand how frustrating it was for you guys to watch that game.. Now you can understand how the basketball fans felt when we watched the last Euroleague final. It looked like there were three teams on the floor: Panathinaikos, CSKA and the refs. And the refs won that game, man! Boring as hell.

    Now correct me if I´m wrong but I think that “zone defense” is not illegal in NBA anymore.. It´s the defensive three seconds rule what´s illegal, isn´t it?

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  6. 17 years ago

    The technical fouls were commited to us for the defensive three seconds rule..
    In Euroleague final the two teams played with the same rules. Did Etore Mesina complained about the referees? I don’t think so..
    NBA and European basketball have many different rules, so when the games are played with 100% NBA rules (and not with 50-50% rules like NBA Europe live tour) the game is really boring..

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ballineurope
17 years ago 6 Comments EuroLeague, More, NBA/NCAA