The Los Angeles Clippers have had their fair share of gripes with the NBA's officiating, but it has gotten to the point of frustration with both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
Following the Clippers' 105-89 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night, George expressed his frustrations when prompted about the officiating, adding that he wants the Clippers to send tapes from Wednesday's game to the NBA's office to review.
“I think a lot of calls are not going our way,” Paul George said after taking just three free throws in 41 physical minutes of play. “We’re putting a lot of pressure at the rim, it’s insane that we’re not getting these calls.
“But it is what it is, it’s nothing new to me. Hopefully, we’ll send a bunch of clips in. League’s gotta take a look at this.”
George's current 4.0 free throws attempted per game are the fewest since his third season in the NBA as a member of the Indiana Pacers.
In their loss to the Mavs, the Clippers took 39 shots in the painted area, including 30 at the rim. There were only three shooting fouls called, however, leading to just 11 free-throw attempts on the night.
When prefaced with those numbers and asked what conversations are had with officials, Paul George didn't really hold back.
“Just a bunch of lies, can't go too much further than that,” George added. “It's a bunch of lies, they know what's going on.
“I mean, our job is to be aggressive, attack. We can't do much more than that, right? If they not gonna call it, they not gonna call it, and that's the sucky part about it because we're not flopping players. We're not players that's like throwing our bodies into other players. Like, we play physical, no different than any other player in this league. There's nothing more that we can do, we're attacking, we're putting pressure at the rim, again, there's nothing that I feel — unless we just start diving and playing a flopping game — there's really nothing much that we can do.”
I asked Paul George about conversations with officials.
“Just a bunch of lies. It’s a bunch of lies, they know what’s going on.”
Then adds:
“Our job is to be aggressive, attack. We can’t do much more than that, right? If they not gonna call it, they not gonna call it.” pic.twitter.com/2xTgrzZivc
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 18, 2021
Even Kawhi Leonard weighed in on the officiating in a way only he can.
“They looked at my missed dunk for 30 minutes it seemed like,” Leonard joked. “Everybody seen him hit my hands so I don’t know. Once we get there gotta knock it down, we were 6-for-11 tonight and I’ll take the lead on that one, being my fault. We just got to keep going, got to keep pushing, don’t worry about it and just play stronger and make those layups and those floaters that we’re trying to get to.”
I asked Kawhi about the lack of fouls despite 30 shots at the rim.
“I don’t know, they looked at my missed dunk for 30 minutes it seemed like, everybody seen him hit my hands so I don’t know. Once we get there gotta knock it down… We just gotta keep going, gotta keep pushing.” pic.twitter.com/RNWP1BI67b
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 18, 2021
According to NBA.com/Stats, the Clippers currently rank 23rd in drives per game and 21st in paint touches per game. As a result, they're 26th in free throws attempted at 19.6 per game. If there is something positive to take away from this, it's that the Clippers are best in the NBA at shooting free throws, leading the league at 83.9 percent. When the Clippers get to the line, they make them. Key word there being “when.”
Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and the Clippers now travel home to play 11 of their next 13 games at Staples Center. The team hasn't been able to string together consecutive wins since Feb. 14th and 15, but they'll have a good chance to do so with 22 of their next 25 days spent in Los Angeles.
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