Chicago Bulls forward Scottie Pippen, suspended for a game after throwing a chair onto the United Center floor following an ejection for incurring two technical fouls, regrets the action.
Why? Because it cost him nearly $32,000 in pay and a $6,000 fine when he didn't play Thursday night against Orlando? Not necessarily."I wish I had not thrown that chair onto the court," Pippen said Thursday, shortly after being voted to the NBA All-Star team. "I wish that chair had been the referee instead," he told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Pippen was ejected by referee Joe Crawford after twice calling the referee's attention to what he believed were 3-second violations by the San Antonio Spurs' Dennis Rodman in a game Tuesday night.
Pippen said he was angry because he wasn't abusive in talking to the refs and his ejection probably cost the Bulls the game. They lost by two points.
"I've never been madder in my life than I was Tuesday night," Pippen said. "It really hurts me to ever get kicked out of a game. But especially that game because it was against a good team with one of the league's best players. We had a good chance to win and my being ejected hurt my teammates. They didn't deserve that."