The Detroit Pistons lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 113-107, on Saturday night, and suffice it to say Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff was not in a pleasant mood afterward.
His anger was not directed at his players, but rather … you’ll never guess … at the officials. If you want the numbers, the Pistons only got to the line 13 times against the Thunder’s 22, but judging the equity of officiating in a given game by free throw totals is a flawed measurement.
For the most part, teams that shoot a lot of free throws earn them with downhill initiative and physical creation. But Bickerstaff wasn’t just angry at the fouls that were called or not called, but mostly with what he believes was a refusal on the part of the officials to extend a basic level of respectful consideration and communication to the Pistons.
Bickerstaff’s anger clearly hit a boiling point when Cade Cunningham was ejected late in the third quarter. A foul was reviewed for a flagrant but was deemed a common foul, and Cunningham, per the pool report, was hit with a technical foul for using profanity toward the officials, and then was hit with a second tech for more profanity.
Magic words aside, this doesn’t seem like a very demonstrative brand of arguing.
“[‘I’m] disgusted by the way that game was officiated,” Bickerstaff said. “The level of disrespect was above and beyond. [The Thunder] have a guy fall down, trip on his own teammate’s foot, they review us for a hostile act. [The Thunder] throw an elbow to our chest, neck area, I ask [the officials] to at least take a look at it, just show us the respect to take a look at it, no one would take a look at it.
“The disrespect has gone far enough. And I’m not going to allow out guy to be treated the way that they were treated tonight. … We understand that we play a style of ball that’s physical, that’s on the edge, I coach my ass off with a passionate way, I’m into the games, our players are into the games, we understand that. But we deserve a level of respect because we’re competing our tails off and bringing something positive to this league.”
Now, here’s where Bickerstaff nearly lost it, pounding his fists on the table as he unleashed an emphatic, voice-cracking close to his rant before wadding up the stat sheet and spiking it down as he walked off.
“We’re growing young players. Our young players are competing their tail off. The least that they could do is get the same level of respect that everybody else in this league gets, and get refereed the same way that everybody else in this league gets reffed. Enough is enough of it. What you saw tonight was disgusting. It was a disgusting display of disrespect toward our guys and what we’re trying to do.”
Even though you’ve now read the script, this is worth a watch.
Bickerstaff clearly believes this has been going on longer than this game. This was a total straw-that-broke-the-camel’s back meltdown, but in the end, it’s not going to get Bickerstaff or the Pistons anywhere. They lost the game, their second straight and fourth in six games, and they’re losing ground on a top-four seed — though they’re still only two games back from No. 4 Milwaukee.
To say every coach thinks his team gets officiated worse than everyone else goes without saying. This sort of frustration is even more pronounced against the Thunder and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is going to drive you crazy with his foul hunting and post-contact antics. But again, the Cunningham ejection is likely what sent Bickerstaff over the edge.
It’s a tough deal for the Pistons trying to knock off maybe the best team in the league without their best player for the fourth quarter, and good on Bickerstaff for coming to his players’ defense. But chances are, the only thing that’s going to come of it is a fine.
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