Davis, Lavin Avoid Harsh Punishment

The Pacific 10 Conference issued a public reprimand of UCLA guard Baron Davis and put him on probation for the rest of the season Tuesday because of critical comments he had made Sunday about basketball referee Terry Christman.

Bruin Coach Steve Lavin was given a private reprimand.

Lavin went onto the court to confront Christman with 4:34 remaining in Sunday’s game at Washington and had to be restrained by players and coaches.

But Davis received the harsher penalty because he singled out the referee by name, going so far as to say Christman had cheated the Bruins.

“While Mr. Davis spoke in the aftermath of a loss in an important conference game, Pac-10 rules prohibit public comments on officiating and any individual official,” Commissioner Tom Hansen said. “He broke those rules, implying the officials had been unfair, and his comments are totally unacceptable.

“Any subsequent public comments on officiating by Mr. Davis during the remainder of the season will result in a substantial penalty.”

The conference office had considered suspending Davis, the 13th-ranked Bruins’ best player, for Thursday’s game against Oregon at Pauley Pavilion before Hansen announced the middle-ground discipline.

It was stronger punishment than the private rebuke given Lavin, but saved Davis from being the first player suspended for comments about a referee.

Davis was also told to issue a public apology--or face suspension.

He issued the apology.

“I would like to apologize to basketball official Terry Christman and the Pacific 10 Conference for my comments following our game in Seattle on Sunday afternoon,” Davis said in a statement released by UCLA.

“The game was a very emotional one for our team and I was very frustrated when the game ended. I said some things I shouldn’t have said and I am sorry for my comments.”

But Davis said after practice he still feels the same way.

“Probably yeah,” he said. “I still do. I still feel that way.

Davis’ foul on Washington’s Deon Luton--the fifth of the game for Davis--started the chain of events Sunday.

Frustrated at being disqualified, Davis took out his mouthpiece and slammed it to the court.

The technical that followed was his third of the season--and Davis said later that all have been called by Christman.

It was another setback in the Bruins’ attempts at getting Davis, in the midst of an otherwise successful comeback from reconstructive knee surgery, to play with more composure.

He has fouled out five times in 16 appearances--all in the last nine games.

Lavin said Davis has improved in controlling his emotions, but added, “He still has a long way to go. He knows that. Just like I know I have a long way to go as a coach. That’s part of the process.”

By Tuesday, after having already apologized to his players after the game for setting a poor example, Lavin was referring to the first two technicals of his career as “my poor actions” and “inexcusable behavior.”

But he didn’t back down in his belief that he was right in calling attention to the discrepancy in free throws in the four UCLA games Christman has worked.

The opponents--Oregon State, Stanford, USC and Washington--shot 178 free throws, the Bruins 82.

“I think I was not justified in my actions,” Lavin said. “But the way I feel is the way I feel. I’m just disappointed in my actions.

“I see what I see, I believe what I believe. I’d like to think I’ve been around coaching and basketball enough to know.”

Not to be overlooked is that UCLA regularly runs up its foul total by reaching in, or that Oregon State had 12 free throws in the final 2:15 on Jan. 7 as the Bruins fouled intentionally to stop the clock in hopes of erasing a deficit.

Sunday, Washington, given six extra free throws because of the two technicals against Lavin and the one against Davis, had a 47-16 advantage.

Hansen was asked about the apparent statistical disparity when Christman worked Bruin games, as opposed to when he didn’t. He commented because he said Christman, by league rules, was not allowed to.

“You have to be very careful when you use numbers to criticize officials,” Hansen said. “I just looked long and hard at the Stanford-UCLA film here in the office, and while there was a difference in foul numbers, a lot of them were intentional fouls by UCLA at the end of the game, trying to catch up. All in all, I thought it was a very well-officiated game.”

Hansen said that Christman, a veteran Pac-10 official, who is a junior high school teacher in the Bay Area, had never had any similar controversy directed at him before.

When the talk Tuesday at Lavin’s weekly media session turned to the game itself, he was asked why the Bruins had not tried to take the ball to Todd MacCulloch, the Huskies’ star center who had only one foul in the first 31 minutes.

“One foul?” Lavin said.

He offered a wry smile.

“Is that right?”

*

Times Sports Editor Bill Dwyre contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Calling Attention

A comparison of average fouls and free throws in UCLA games refereed by Terry Christman and those refereed by other officials, and the Bruins record in those games:

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WITH CRHISTMAN WITHOUT CHRISTMAN 4 GAMES 16 1-3 UCLA RECORD 14-2 11-21 UCLA FREE THROWS 15-25 29-45 OPPONENT FREE THROWS 19=27 32 UCLA FOULS 22 19 OPPONENT FOULS 21

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