Doc Rivers was fined by the NBA after complaining about officiating after the Los Angeles Clippers loss to the Houston Rockets.
The NBA fined Los Angeles Clippers’ coach Doc Rivers $15,000 on Friday. Rivers made post game comments about the discrepancy in the amount of free throws shot by the Rockets and the Clippers.
During the game, the Clippers scored 34 more points in the paint than the Rockets, shot 23 less three pointers and yet still were not at the charity stripe. The Rockets ended up with 23 free throw attempts, which dwarfed the Clippers 8. Doc stated last night:
"I thought our guys drove and got hit all game. Lou [Williams] down the stretch got killed on a play and no call. Austin [Rivers] gets hit and no call. DJ [DeAndre Jordan] gets fouled over the back.More from ClipperholicsGrade the trade: Clippers shockingly land Trae Young in wild proposal3 of the most overpaid players on the LA Clippers’ rosterTrading for this player covers the Clippers’ biggest weaknessHow will the LA Clippers fare in the in-season tournament?Why the LA Clippers should steer clear of recent gold medalist waiverI haven’t [complained about officiating] all year. 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.”"
It wasn’t just Doc who felt this was an issue. Players, such as Austin, were visibly frustrated with the lack of calls during the game. We also had a source inside the team contact us postgame and express the same concern.
With the Clippers so close in the playoff race, it makes sense to complain here. When you lose by only 5 points, it’s hard to ignore all of the “free” points the other team is benefiting from.
The Clippers will look to bounce back tonight as they head to Oklahoma City for their second game of a tough back-to-back. With their loss last night and other Western team’s victories, the Clips dropped back out of 7th place in the conference and down into 9th. The Thunder are one of the teams caught in this log jam with LA, so a win tonight would be huge.