BONUS No. 11: Coaches, get off the damn floor!
I've been railing about this for seven years now. I need some help, people. The rulebook is crystal clear on this: Teams should be assessed a technical whenever a head coach or assistant ventures onto the court beyond prescribed boundaries. Head coaches are allowed to stroll along the sideline toward half court to yell out plays, provided they retreat in a timely fashion. They are not allowed to step five feet onto the court during their meanderings. They are not allowed to randomly be outside the coach's box to scream, clap, flap their wings, or whatever other histrionics they might use to distract opposing players.
Assistants have to stay on the bench, period. They can yelp and clap from their seats when opposing shooters set up shop nearby, but it's sort of embarrassing to watch grown men in expensive suits turn into crazy youth sports parents.
What Sidney Lowe, the Wiz assistant, did Thursday night in the closing moments of Washington's win in New York was blatantly illegal in the moment. He stood on the court right next to a referee who decided to just ignore him. He tricked Courtney Lee into passing up a game-tying triple. That's not even the referee's fault. The NBA long ago decided to punt this rule. Usually, it doesn't matter; Erik Spoelstra does no damage while he ambles up the floor alongside his point guard during a typical half-court possession.