McGrady banned for improper behavior: CBA

The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) has banned three referees for their controversial performance during a match and issued a fine to Qingdao Doublestar and its star player Tracy McGrady for improperly protesting the calls, Sina.com.cn reports.

Wu Minhua, the head referee of Wednesday night's game between Qingdao Doublestar and Bayi Fubang, was banned for 10 games for not handing a 24-second violation to Bayi when the 24-second alarm rang. The other two assistant referees received five-game bans.

Qingdao Doublestar and its former NBA star Tracy McGrady also received separate fines worth 100,000 yuan and 10,000 yuan respectively for their improper behavior during and after the game. In addition, McGrady was banned from one game.

On Wednesday, Qingdao Doublestar players refused to play and returned to the locker room in protest of the referees' controversial decisions, resulting in a more than 10-minute halt of the game. Qingdao was handed its fourth straight loss by Bayi, 99-90.

After the game, McGrady said via Weibo, Twitter's Chinese counterpart, "CBA has to do a better job with these officials. My team plays hard every night, and the three blind mice take it away from us!"

The CBA said McGrady's words on Weibo insulted the referees and had a negative online effect on the league.

As reported, Bayi also received a corresponding penalty.

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