Dwight Howard Fined $15,000 For Criticizing Referees On Blog

The NBA has fined Dwight Howard $15,000 for writing a blog post that criticized referees. During an 85-80 loss in Detroit on November 3, Howard was fouled out in less than 17 minutes of floor time. The superstar center wrote a blog post on his web site the following day in which he described receiving six fouls in such a short span "crazy" and expressed frustration at some of the calls:

They called me for a charge on a flop, a push off when the defender was on me and two fouls on blocked shots.... What really bothers me is they are letting guys hammer me at one end of the floor, yet I'm being called for everything. All of those hits take a toll on my body after a while.

Howard has established a prominent online presence, blogging frequently and having amassed more than 1.2 million Twitter followers. He flew his one millionth Twitter follower to Orlando to attend a Magic game. Watch their meeting below:

Comments

[Harrier]

10:09 AM on 11/12/2009

It's a free country. The ref were never abused. Go figure. The NBA needs regulation of it's own...It's a monopoly. I also think the NCAA needs to have a lot of regulation. As a former world class athlete, all the organization are trying to take away the athlete's money to support their own jobs. The NBA has already found refs who fixed games and will not let the truth come out either. If it did, they would have o fire themselves.

[sizogee]

07:41 PM on 11/11/2009

He is right.

Watch how they officiated Shaq about 7 or 8 years ago. Then look at how they officiate Dwight. It's a joke.

[fuzzyhearts]

07:06 PM on 11/11/2009

He has a point. Howard is notoriously the recipient of bad calls. It's the easiest way for league officials to keep Orlando out of the Finals. They tried it all throughout the playoffs last year. It didn't work, of course, but they tried their best to keep Howard on the bench with foul trouble against both Boston and Cleveland. Doing this throughout the year will enable the NBA to keep Orlando from having home court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs, giving both Boston and Cleveland better opportunities to reach the Finals, which ultimately is what the NBA wants.

[dukesman2000]

04:32 PM on 11/11/2009

I wonder which referee had money on the game? Dwight, you already made your money, the refs have to make theirs.

[k6007]

03:14 PM on 11/11/2009

Awww, poor baby. Why don't ya cry about it, then?

Go pistons!

[lilnyc]

07:50 AM on 11/11/2009

No freedom of speech?