Rockets CEO: No NBA favoritism for Paul, Harden

But he's also not thrilled about Clippers forward Blake Griffin not being
punished for his on-court behavior during the game.

On Wednesday the NBA levied a pair of two-game suspensions on Houston's Trevor
Ariza and Gerald Green after a contentious 113-102 Clippers win. The league
cited both players for sneaking into the Clippers' locker room afterward and
their alleged "hostile, verbal altercation with several Clippers players."

Hoping to dispel the notion that Paul, head of the league's players union, and
Harden, a five-time NBA All-Star, received favoritism despite reports they had
also crashed the wild locker-room scene, Brown defended both players on
Thursday.

"The league is agnostic when it comes to these types of things, and the fact
that Chris -- that neither Chris nor James were reprimanded was because they
didn't do anything, they were peacemakers (in the situation)," Brown said.
"And this was coming from all of the reports that were investigated by both
Clippers staff, security staff and Rockets staff. The idea that somehow Chris
Paul is receiving preferential treatment because he's connected with the
players union, and his relationship with the Players Association is just
silly."

Brown admitted he found it surprising that the Clippers' Griffin, also a
five-time All-Star, received no discipline from the league office after
appearing to make unnecessary contact with Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni in
an unusually aggressive manner late in the fourth quarter. The incident came
shortly before an animated exchange between Griffin and D'Antoni, with both
being assessed double-technical fouls.

"I think the number of games seemed heavy, because we thought that the
(comparable incidents in the NBA's past) were much more geared toward the
one-game potential suspension. I think Trevor was prepared for that. That
seemed to be where it was. I was a little surprised by Gerald, but again the
league did a full review on this."

But Brown says his organization will accept the league's ruling.

"Mike D'Antoni is a great guy, and Mike decided he just wants to let this go,"
Brown said. "Things happen in the heat of battle, but we were surprised, I
think, a little bit that Blake was not -- didn't receive any discipline in any
form or fashion.

"They reviewed everything, and again the league is very thorough in these
things, and they're very impartial. And I understand (vice president of
basketball operations Kiki VanDeWeghe's) explanation in everything in
reviewing the tape, and reviewing everything else, but I also was there and I
also have spoken with Mike and our guys and it was a situation that we think
could've been avoided. But the league has made its decision, and we respect
that. And Mike respects that. That's the most important thing, and we'll go
forward from there."

--Field Level Media