Official: Pierce technical for taunting
MIAMI — Paul Pierce was ejected from tonight’s game after earning his second technical foul with seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. After the game, Crew chief Dan Crawford explained the reason for giving Pierce the technical.
“It’s what we call a verbal taunt,” said Crawford. “He directed profanity towards Wade. And in the rulebook, that is a verbal taunt. And it just so happened to be Pierce’s second technical foul.”
On Wade’s technical, Crawford said, “He actually walked toward Pierce and that’s why Wade received his, walking toward Pierce, and then Pierce’s reaction to that.”
Pierce left the arena without speaking to reporters tonight. Wade briefly touched on the spat between him and Pierce in the postgame press conference.
“I was just trying to get through the screen,” said Wade. “I ran through it. He (Pierce) followed me. Paul had some words for me and the referee thought it was a little too much.”
Crawford said the league will probably review the technical James Jones received earlier in the fourth quarter after he and the other officials watched the tape.
“He didn’t do as much as we thought,” Crawford said of Jones. “We thought he got in and became aggressive or initiated. But after looking at the video, that’s something we’ll have to look at again.”
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