By Antonis Stroggylakis / info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos coach Rick Pitino characterized the decision of the referees to give him with a technical foul with 52 seconds left in the game vs. Crvena Zvezda as “ridiculous.” The Hall of Famer said that he wasn’t even addressing the officials but just expressing his frustration at his own team following Kevin Punter’s go-ahead 3-pointer.
“Well, I wasn’t yelling at the referee,” Pitino said in the post-game presser. “I kicked the bench and I thought that the railing doesn’t move. I wasn’t yelling at the ref, I was upset at the team for giving up the three. Why he calls the technical… I don’t know. The support thing [of the bench] isn’t supposed to move. I’m giving that technical to the carpenters here in Belgrade,” he then joked.
“I’m a coach that doesn’t get technicals. I don’t ever get technicals,” Pitino added. “And I’m never complaining about the officiating but that was ridiculous to be called with the technical when I’m not yelling at him. It’s something you don’t like to see. I’m not embarrassing the officials. Sometimes they make the same mistakes we make.”
“I don’t hold grudges against the official. I won’t speak to him ever again. Just kidding,” Pitino concluded.