The Heat defeated the Pistons on Friday night and plays host to the Pacers on Sunday night. But neither of those games seemed to dominate coach Pat Riley’s thinking.
Riley still had the 90-80 Christmas Day loss to the Bulls on his mind Friday night–20 minutes after the Heat squashed Detroit 88-74.
Miffed at what he called a “double standard” by officials in favor of “his majesty” Michael Jordan and the Bulls, Riley proclaimed that one day Miami will be able to get a fair shot against the five-time NBA champions.
“There is this misnomer, there’s this presumption that every time we play against the Bulls we are perceived to be–but we’re not even near them–a more physical team,” Riley said. “There’s already a preconceived idea when we go in there, on the officials’ part, that we’re banging the hell out of them. So we get all the little cheap fouls.”
The Heat was called for 26 personal fouls to Chicago’s 18 Thursday. That disparity enhanced Riley’s point, he claimed. Of the 11 Bulls players who saw action, four did not receive any foul calls. All nine Heat players who played finished with at least one foul.
Riley was quick to point out that in 38 minutes, Michael Jordan was not hit with one personal foul. Miami’s Alonzo Mourning was tagged with several quick fouls, many of them questionable, Riley said. Mourning played just 23 minutes and fouled out with just more than three minutes to play.
“His majesty Jordan had no fouls in 38 minutes where he’s hammering people,” Riley said. “So we have a lot of things to overcome. It’s almost like the world heavyweight boxing champion. You can’t win on points.
“With them, you’ve got to knock them out. They know that. The officials know that. That’s the thing that bothers me. There’s really a double standard. When I take a look at the film, it’s a joke. But we have to overcome that too.”
Riley said Mourning was frustrated by the officials, not Bulls forward Dennis Rodman, countering claims that Rodman has an uncanny way of unnerving Mourning.
“I’m not living my life to get a win out of Chicago,” Riley said. “We will be ready one day. We’re not ready now. We’re a new team. They’re a six-seven year veteran team.
“We’ll be ready.”