Van Gundy’s Clarification Satisfies NBA

NBA referees might not agree, but, as far as league officials are concerned, the dark cloud hanging over Jeff Van Gundy has passed.

The Houston Rocket coach on Monday acknowledged he was “purposely vague” regarding the comments he’d made about “an NBA official” during the first round of the playoffs that had earned him a record fine. The NBA accepted his explanation and the matter was considered closed, the league said.

Van Gundy, whose team was eliminated by the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday, last week was fined $100,000 -- a record amount for a coach -- after saying an “official in the NBA who’s not in the playoffs” told him that Rocket center Yao Ming was being targeted by referees after complaints by Maverick owner Mark Cuban.

“When I referred to an NBA official, people inferred that I was talking about a working NBA referee, instead of an official with the league,” Van Gundy said Monday in a statement released by the Rockets. “I may have been purposely vague, but I made sure I was telling the truth,” Van Gundy told the Houston Chronicle. “The implication from the start, that I might have fabricated the call, was disturbing and I’m glad the NBA confirmed that there were talks with league personnel.”

The Rockets declined to elaborate on Van Gundy’s statement. Van Gundy earlier had apologized for his remarks.

“He also confirmed directly to an NBA representative that, during the Houston-Dallas playoff series, he did not have any communication with a referee [working or non-working] other than, of course, during an ongoing game,” NBA Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik said in a statement. “In fact, his only conversations with league employees during the series were with league personnel in the normal course. In light of these circumstances, we now consider the matter to be closed.”

That did not sit well with the National Basketball Referees Assn., whose members were “furious” and “disappointed,” a spokesman said.

“It just doesn’t pass the smell test; it smells like a cover-up,” spokesman Lamell McMorris told Bloomberg News. “He should at least be suspended. It’s a horrible message to send to anyone who is a stakeholder in the NBA.”

Commissioner David Stern, who handed down the record fine, threatened further punishment, perhaps even banishment, if Van Gundy did not cooperate with a league investigation. But, on Monday, Stern was satisfied.

“He acknowledged that his previous statement that he got a call from an NBA referee was, shall I say, in error, was inaccurate,” Stern said. “As far as I’m concerned that makes it over.”