Somebody's got to look into this - George fumes at NBA officiating

Three OKC players fouled out in the closing stages of Friday's defeat to the Clippers, prompting Paul George to hit out at the officials.

Published : Mar 09, 2019 20:21 IST

Oklahoma City Thunder's Paul George.
Oklahoma City Thunder's Paul George.
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Oklahoma City Thunder's Paul George.

Paul George launched into a lengthy attack on officiating in the NBA after the Oklahoma City Thunder's defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers, stating: "Somebody's got to look into this."

George, Russell Westbrook and Steven Adams all fouled out in the last four minutes of Friday's game as the Thunder went down 118-110.

"It's bad officiating. I'm sorry, it's just bad officiating," a clearly infuriated George told reporters. "We don't get a fair whistle. We haven't gotten a fair whistle all year. Somebody's got to 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 speak for Russ. There's nobody that gets more contact than Russ going to the basket. And it's just crazy.

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"We're giving everything we got. We're playing hard. We're getting grabbed, we're getting scratched, clawed, held, shoved. And there's nothing for it. The officials just get to walk out, and there's nothing that penalises them for not officiating the game the right way.

"I come out here and I do my job, and that's to play and be a professional. I don't know if it's [NBA commissioner] Adam Silver that's got to [look into] this. We expect the officiating to be professional as well.

"It's just got to be called right. When we step on that floor, we [have] got to feel like we are going to get a fair shot, a fair chance."

George acknowledged he was likely to be fined for his comments, adding: "I'm going to lose money on this. We speak up, we lose money. There's nothing that I can do to change that. It is what it is. There's gotta be a change, but there's nothing that I can do."

Thunder head coach Billy Donovan said his team were guilty of "too much fouling".

"Our guys are playing hard and competing, but there is no reason for Lou Williams to get to the free throw line 20 times," Donovan was quoted as saying by ESPN.

"We've got to know that. Our guys are playing really hard and are really competing, but we are fouling too much away from the ball when we don't have to."

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