The NBA on Monday fined Cleveland Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff $15,000 after he was extremely vital of the officiating in Sunday evening’s 112-108 dwelling loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
“That game was taken from us,” Bickerstaff mentioned Sunday evening. “We deserved to win it.”
Bickerstaff was upset with what he thought was a significant discrepancy in fouls. Cleveland was referred to as for 28 to Philadelphia’s 19 in a bodily sport with playoff-level depth. The Sixers’ Joel Embiid alone made 21 journeys to the free throw line amid his 44-point efficiency.
“The one thing you can’t defend is the free throw line, and that’s absurd,” Bickerstaff mentioned, referring to the Sixers’ 42 tried foul pictures (35 of which they made). “Our guys deserved way better than they got tonight.”
Of Philly All-Stars Embiid and James Harden, Bickerstaff mentioned: “They’re great players, and they understand how to play through the rules. They know how to manipulate the rules. This is no knock or disrespect to those guys. But the game has to be consistent on both ends of the floor. We were searching for that consistency, and we never found it.”
Cleveland was inside 107-106 when Bickerstaff felt Darius Garland drew contact from Embiid whereas lacking an off-balance layup with 15.2 seconds left.
“Darius was fouled,” Bickerstaff mentioned. “He did his job and got to a spot and got fouled. No whistle.”
On the two-minute report launched Monday, the league agreed with Bickerstaff and mentioned Embiid ought to have been referred to as for a foul.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
