Is there a disconnect between Reggie Jackson and Stan Van Gundy?
Detroit Pistons point guard Reggie Jackson and head coach Stan Van Gundy expressed some contradictory viewpoints after their Game 1 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday. Already down a game in the series against a first-seeded, LeBron James-led team, it couldn't have come at a more inopportune time.
Late in the fourth quarter of Game 1 on Sunday afternoon, with a little over three minutes left and with the Cavs leading by four points, Jackson missed a mid-range jumper, thought he was fouled, got in the face of referee Derrick Stafford, and was given a technical foul. Kyrie Irving made the technical free throw, and the Cavs went on to win 106-101.
After the game, Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy was asked about the incident in the post game press conference.
"I mean, I think he knows the message, Van Gundy said. "You cannot, cannot get a technical foul. Understand you're frustrated, you think you got fouled, whatever. It doesn't matter."
"First of all, we can't give them away even in the first quarter. We don't have the margin for error against this team to get those. But certainly not at that point in the game. One point's huge. It can't be done. He knows that. I'm sure if you ask him he'll tell you -- I haven't talked to him since the incident -- but I'm sure he'd tell you the same thing. He can't get that. I mean you're angry at the referee, and so because I'm mad at the referee, the way I show my anger is give the Cavaliers a point. It doesn't make sense."
As it turns out, Jackson in fact doesn't know how huge one point is, and he didn't say the same thing as Van Gundy.
"Nah. I wish I'd get the call," Jackson said in the post game press conference when he was asked if he wishes he could take back the technical. "I wish they would see me get slapped on the arm. It was, to me, blatantly obvious. Had to let them know."
The Pistons will take on the Cavaliers in Game 2 on Wednesday, and if their on-court disadvantage in this series wasn't enough, this off-court situation certainly won't help.
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