Usually, the NFL is the league that seeks to remove all of the fun and personality from its players’ shows of emotion on the field. But the NBA took a page out of the No Fun League playbook on Monday night, much to Reggie Miller’s chagrin.
A rare Monday night doubleheader aired on TNT during the middle of the NCAA Tournament, with Reggie Miller joining Kevin Harlan courtside to call the Houston Rockets’ visit to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Rockets forward Tari Eason threw down a dunk on Dorian Finney-Smith, then turned to his bench and yelled. Although all it seemed like he was doing was trying to hype up his own teammates, referee Tre Maddox called a technical foul on him. And that earned him a rare callout by name from Reggie Miller.
Reggie Miller unloads on referee Tre Maddox for calling a tech on Tari Eason for daring to show emotion pic.twitter.com/nQSK4PAlZ3
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) April 1, 2025
“Oh come on! Come on man. You knew how I was going to react on that. Are you kidding me? Come on Tre Maddox you’re better than that,” Miller proclaimed. “This is the NBA. I could see in college, high school, stop it. Come on man.”
The Lakers have been notorious for their otherworldly free-throw advantage for the last couple of seasons, so hopefully, this doesn’t become a thing like the mysterious calls that always seemed to favor the Kansas City Chiefs last season.
Good for Reggie Miller to call out such an obscene technical foul. The NBA is lucky he didn’t go full Tommy Heinsohn for that one.