Well, the NBA now officially has a pine-tar-esque “scandal” on their hands thanks to Dwight Howard and the Houston Rockets. The Rockets’ game against the Hawks on Saturday was briefly halted when official Monty McCutchen switched out game balls after Paul Millsap, who was shooting free throws, tossed it back to back to him because the one in question was noticeably sticky. As it turned out, the residue on the ball was from Stickum spray, which Howard sprayed onto his hands immediately after the foul was called.
Here is where DH was when PM was fouled. Went out of his way to spray hands & asked to touch ball before 2nd FTA. pic.twitter.com/EzUhqUstih
— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) March 20, 2016
Even worse, Howard admitted after the game that he’s been employing this strategy for quite a while.
Howard on his Stickum: "I don’t know why people are making a big deal out of it. I do it every game. It’s not a big deal. I ain’t tripping.”
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) March 20, 2016
The one, teeny, tiny problem with that: it’s illegal. And the Rockets knew it, too, as Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Official Monty McCutchen grabbed the ball and went to each bench to issue a warning, saying ‘Stickum is illegal in the NBA.’ After first going to the Hawks bench he made his way toward the Rockets bench. Rockets coach J.B. Bickerstaff slid in front of the can, still at the scorer’s table. McCutchen noted he knew what Bickerstaff was hiding.
No penalty was enforced. The can was then removed from the scorer’s table by a member of the Rockets’ staff. According to one person, the team did not produce the spray can when ask for it later by a league official.
That Bickerstaff tried to hide the can from McCutchen’s point of view, combined with the Rockets refusal to produce the spray later, makes for some pretty damning evidence against the team. Vivlamore also reports that the incident is under further review from the league.
We’ve never really seen something like this before, so we’re not sure what the precedent is for punishment. Since the Rockets apparently knew what they were doing, it’s likely they’ll be punished, instead of just Howard.
