Rockets’ Montrezl Harrell suspended five games for pushing D-League ref

Houston Rockets rookie Montrezl Harrell has been suspended five games for shoving a D-League ref to the floor.

There was an ugly scene in the NBA D-League over the weekend, when Rio Grande Valley Vipers forward Montrezl Harrell got in a shoving match with Bakersfield Jam forward Derek Cooke Jr. on the court. Both teams tried to separate the two, but things got even worse when Harrell decided to shove official Jason Goldenberg right to the floor in a vicious and abhorrent manner.

Now, Harrell is going to miss some time because of his disgusting and unnecessary actions. The NBA D-League announced on Tuesday, that Harrell would be suspended for five games because of the physical altercation. Cooke Jr. was also suspended for one game as well.

Considering the fact that Harrell put his hands on an official in such an abusive and violent manner, it’s a bit of a surprise that he only got five games. This is an incident where they could have really thrown the book at him and set a precedent that it’s never okay to go after an official.

While the season is almost over and there isn’t that many games left, they could have easily stretched it into next year to really make a point that it isn’t okay. Still, he’s got a lot of time now to think about what he did and hopefully learn some respect for the officiating crews.

For more NBA coverage, be sure to visit our hub page.