The LA Clippers fell to the Houston Rockets on Thursday night in a tightly contested game that saw James Harden lead the best team in the NBA to a 101-96 victory. The Clippers held a 12 point lead early in the third quarter before the Rockets surged back to take the lead for good, even though LA attempted to put a few scares in them in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.
After the game, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers started his postgame interview criticizing the referees for what was a questionably officiated game that saw the Rockets attempt 15 more free throw than LA despite also attempting a whopping 23 more three-pointers on the night.
“We executed our game plan and they shot 39 percent,” said Rivers. “I don’t say much about officiating, they shot 41 threes, we shot 18, we doubled them in the amount of points in the paint, and it was 23-8 in free throws. That’s a joke, that is a complete joke. I thought our guys drove and got hit all game, and Lou (Williams) down the stretch got killed on a play, and no call. Austin (Rivers) gets hit and no call. D.J. (DeAndre Jordan) gets fouled over the back.
“I haven’t done that all year, and our guys played their hearts out. But for them to shoot that many more free throws than us, and we’re the team attacking, it just doesn’t make basketball sense to me. It is what it is, and we have to move on. But we played hard, we had the right game plan, and we defended them pretty well. We had a couple breakdowns, but they shot under 40 percent, and we controlled the pace of the game. I’ll take that all day.”
On Friday afternoon, the NBA announced that Rivers has been fined $15,000 for those comments criticizing the officials, but does he have a point?
And now the NBA announced that they've fined #Clippers coach Doc Rivers $15K for his comments on the officiating last night against the #Rockets. https://t.co/RRN1aP7g2Z
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 16, 2018
Just by taking a quick look at the numbers, the Clippers were indeed the attacking team all night. They outscored the Rockets 70-36 in points in the paint while having 52 drives to the basket last night, making 15 of their 30 attempts. They only shot two free throws off those drives, however, meaning they got one foul call all night. The Rockets, on the other hand, attempted made just six of 17 attempts off the same number of drives, but ended up with eight free throws. The numbers simply backed Rivers' statement that his team was the attacking team all night while they also kept the Rockets out of what they wanted to do for much of the game.
The Clippers core core of Tobias Harris, Austin Rivers, Lou Williams, and DeAndre Jordan combined for 69 shot attempts, 12 of those being three-pointers, and attempted just four combined free throws. According to NBA Stats, between Rivers, Harris, and Williams, the trio combined for 46 drives to the basket, finishing making 13-of-26 attempts, but only received two free throws off those drives.
The hope is that Rivers' comments will help the Clippers get some calls in the near future as the team aims to make the playoffs this season for the seventh consecutive season. They've got a tough schedule down the stretch and will need to take care of business in order to secure a postseason berth.
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