Eddie Jordan has conducted several civil discussions with NBA referees this year. However, the Washington Wizards coach is starting to think he’s wasting his breath.
It helps explain why Jordan had to be restrained by both his assistants and players Wednesday in the Wizards’ 115-103 loss to New Jersey.
Jordan already had watched in disbelief as point guard Steve Blake was popped in the back of his head with no call, only to see the Nets’ Richard Jefferson sink a 3-pointer to end the third quarter.
So when he saw muscular ex-Wizard Aaron Williams mug Kwame Brown in the fourth quarter and no foul was called, Jordan leaped from the bench, unleashed a few choice profanities in the direction of the officials and was ejected for the first time since he became Washington’s coach.
Jordan knows struggling teams like his don’t get the same respect from officials as their counterparts with better records. So Wednesday, Jordan acted out of character.
“When I think we’re not getting a fair shake, I’ve got to take a stand,” Jordan said. “I’ve got to show my players and show officials that we’re not getting a fair shake. That’s the only way to do it. You verbalize it respectfully and when it continues, you do a little more.”
Though anyone sitting within earshot of Jordan Wednesday knows he wasn’t ejected for saying respectful things, his courtside manner this season can be characterized mostly as respectful.
But injuries to Gilbert Arenas and Jerry Stackhouse coupled with mounting losses have started to wear on Jordan. And when he sees his undermanned and inexperienced team fighting as hard as he believes it can and calls often not going its way, his frustration mounts.
Such thinking is not limited to the coach.
“You’ve seen what happens,” said point guard Brevin Knight. “With the record [10-27] that we have, all the young guys, that’s the respect that you get. Right now we have to play through all of that. We can’t worry about it. We can’t change it. We just have to go out and just go that much harder.”
This is where the Wizards miss Arenas and — even more so — Stackhouse. One of Stackhouse’s strong points is getting to the free-throw line. When a veteran player gets to the line, officials tend to be more willing to call fouls that sometimes favor players of lesser stature.
“Stack is the big difference for us,” Brown said. “This guy, just his presence makes a difference. If he’s out there we get respect. He gets to the line at crucial points in the game. Just having his presence out there gives us a guy that changes the way the entire league looks at us.”
With Stackhouse (knee) and Arenas (stomach) sidelined indefinitely, Larry Hughes is the player who draws the most respect from the officials. Compared to Stackhouse, Hughes is smaller, doesn’t draw contact as well and doesn’t verbalize his displeasure with the officiating like Stackhouse.
“He’s just not very demonstrative,” Jordan said.
Losers of 11 of their last 13 games, the Wizards shouldn’t expect things to change much tonight when they face Detroit. The Pistons’ 10-game winning streak is the longest current streak in the league, and coach Larry Brown works the officials as well as anyone.
“It’s just the way things are. We have to accept some things and get over them,” Kwame Brown said. “It would be nice to be in the other guys’ shoes sometimes.”
Note — Knight, who suffered a bruised Achilles’ tendon against the Nets, is expected to play tonight.
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