Paul George and the weary Oklahoma City Thunder came into Staples Center on Friday night hoping to upset a fresh L.A. Clippers team. The Thunder played an overtime game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night while the Clippers had been off since their Monday night victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Unfortunately for the Thunder, things did not go their way as the team mainly took issue with the officiating after their 118-110 loss to the Clippers. Immediately after the game, George let loose on what he says has been a rough stretch of officiating.
“Bad officiating,” said George. “I'm sorry, it's just bad officiating. We don't get a fair whistle, we haven't gotten a fair whistle all year. It is what it is. Somebody's gotta look into this. It's getting out of hand where we somehow just walk teams to the line and there's nobody that gets more contact… If I don't speak for myself, I'll speak for Russ. There's nobody that gets more contact than Russ going to the basket. It's just crazy, I don't understand it
“It’s piece of shit being on that floor. We've giving everything we've got, we're playing hard. We're getting grabbed, we getting scratched, clawed, held, shoved. And there’s nothing for it. The officials just get to walk out and nothing that's penalizing them for not officiating the game the right way.”
The Thunder were whistled for 34 personal fouls (and a technical foul) which led to 46 free throws for the Clippers. On top of that, OKC's most important trio of players in George, Russell Westbrook, and Steven Adams all fouled out and played no more than 32 minutes of action. Nerlens Noel finished with five fouls and Jerami Grant had four.
“They know what's going on,” George said when asked about talking to the league about officiating after the season. “We in game 60-something. They know what's going on. I come out here and do my job and thats to play and be a professional. Idk if it's Adam Silver that's got to lock in and look at this… We expect the officiating to be professional as well.
“I've been officiated like this in my career. I've been fighting this battle for a long time.”
Patrick Beverley received a heap of praise for his stellar defense on George, and it was well-deserved. George finished with his third lowest scoring total of the year of just 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting from the field, 3-of-9 from beyond the arc, and 2-of-4 from the free throw line.
Beverley let the crowd know after he drew Westbrook's fifth foul and also got the Clippers fans going when he drew George's sixth and final foul of the evening.
“When the game is not called right, it's played in his favor,” said George in regards to Beverley's defense. “It's played in his favor when the game is not called right. Take no credit away from Patrick, I love the way he approaches the game and how he plays as a defender. I like that competitiveness. I like the battle, I wish it was just called right and we could've really played and went at it.”
The timing of George's comments couldn't be more perfect. Just 24 hours before these comments about the officiating, George shot a season-high 20 free throws in the Thunder's win over the Blazers. Now, he's criticizing the refs while reminding everyone he isn't the only one who is doing so.
“I'm not the only one that's said something about what's going on. I'm not the only one. It's just gotta be called right. When we step on that floor, we're gonna get a fair shot, fair chance every night. That's what the change needs to be at.”
Clearly, George was determined to rip the officiating as soon as the game came to a close, and will be short $15,000 – $25,000 for the criticism. Still, he's hoping his comments lead to some kind of change.
“There’s nothing we can do. I’m gonna lose money on this. We speak up, we lose money. There’s nothing I can do to change that. It just is what it is. There’s gotta be a change, but there’s nothing that I can do.”
#Thunder’s Paul George went OFF on the horrible officiating – “There’s nothing we can do. I’m gonna lose money on this. We speak up, we lose money. There’s nothing I can do to change that. It just is what it is. There’s gotta be a change but there’s nothing that I can do.” pic.twitter.com/FjIuQwuYjG
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 9, 2019
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