No suspensions for the Utah Jazz after their altercation with the Indiana Pacers

The NBA has decided the punishment for the Jazz and it looks like it will just be heavy fines.

If you haven’t seen the altercation, you have likely been off the grid. Here is what happened.

The biggest fine in this comes to Rudy Gobert. Because there was no punch thrown, it looks like he will only come away with a steep fine. There was some question of what would happen with Joe Ingles after he ran into Ed Malloy which was deemed as inappropriate contact and why he got the big fine that he did. Donovan Mitchell also comes away with a steep fine of $20K which is for his part in the altercation but likely also because of his comments after the game.

Mitchell has a strong point here. Yes, it was inappropriate the actions of Gobert, Mitchell and Ingles, but would these things have happened if the officials had called the foul on the play? Or some of the other fouls earlier in the game?

Mitchell mentions that the refs have to find a happy medium with their foul calling. This season has been a lot more physical as the refs have adjusted their foul calls. The game has undoubtedly improved with the refs not allowing calls for players who manufacture calls by manipulation. But this has also at times swung maybe too far to the point of officials ignoring too much contact. When the players feel like they are being fouled, and the refs don’t do anything, they’ll take matters into their own hands. In this case the officials lost control of the situation.

So what could the officials have done better? They should have seen the escalating tensions between Gobert and Turner throughout the night.

Taunting and chippiness grew throughout the game with plays like this one.

The officials have to be cognizant of these things and be ready to call a foul. Because they weren’t paying attention, things escalated too far. It’s a difficult job but in the end the NBA officials are the ones who must create order. For the game to get this out of hand is not ideal.

It does also raise the question of whether there are more fights going on with the new rule changes. Maybe it’s the same amount, maybe not. Either way, there will likely be some adjustments by the officials as the season moves along.