Clippers coach Doc Rivers fined $25k for criticizing referees

Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers had some criticism for the referees after his team’s Game 5 loss and the NBA fined him accordingly.

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After his Clippers lost a close Game 5 rife with foul calls, some of which were controversial, Doc Rivers sounded off on the officiating, and it has cost him $25,000.

The Clippers lost Game 5 of their first round series against the Spurs, 111-107, and Rivers thinks the officiating played a big part, telling ESPN he thought some of the calls were “brutal.”

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“I don’t complain much,” Rivers began, which is always a good way to start complaining. “I thought we got some really tough calls tonight, some brutal calls. The travel on Blake [Griffin], the goaltend on Matt [Barnes], which wasn’t a goaltend. You think about the playoffs, and they’re single-possession games. Those possessions, those were crucial. J.J. [Redick]’s foul that got him out, J.J. didn’t touch anyone. It’s not why we lost, but those were big plays for us.”

The NBA quickly fined Rivers for the comments.

Spurs vs. Clippers has become the only close series in the Western Conference’s first round, and Game 5 was the closest game the two evenly matched teams have played so far. In a conference filled with so many great teams, it’s a bit of a surprise that we haven’t gotten to see more competitive series, but so far, Clippers-Spurs feels more like a conference finals matchup than the first round.

In such a close series, it’s easy to see why the controversial calls bothered the Clippers so much, especially since one such borderline call led to starter J.J. Redick fouling out.

Some of the calls were especially bad, such as a second quarter goaltending call on Matt Barnes that, upon review, was very clearly not a violation. But with no review system in place for goaltending calls, the Clippers and Rivers had to live with the bad call.

With the teams so evenly matched, it’s easy to see why the Clippers were bothered by all the borderline foul calls, since the course of the game could have been completely changed by those calls going the other way. The Clippers players were clearly bothered by the calls on the court, unlike the unflappable Spurs, who were, as always, a machine.

The Spurs were actually called for more fouls than the Clippers during the game, though that was mostly due to their strategy of fouling DeAndre Jordan on pretty much every play.

The Clippers can’t let the bad calls bother them, though, as they prepare for their game 6 showdown with the defending champs. Game 6 takes place Friday night in Los Angeles.

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