Detroit Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff accused a ref of bias against him and his team after losing in overtime to the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.
In the game, Dallas shot 36 free throws, vs. Detroit’s 20, and Pistons forward Ausar Thompson was ejected from the game for arguing a call with crew chief John Goble. Bickerstaff was also called for a technical foul at halftime.
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Bickerstaff didn’t name Goble in his comments, but it was clear that who he was talking about.
Here’s some of what Bickerstaff said to the media after the game:
“A referee makes a comment to me about, ‘Night by night, this is how our interactions are.’ So that says to me that the referee is coming into the game not being objective. You look at the play, that same referee, at halftime I get my technical foul. I don’t say anything to him. I go to grab Cade, to get Cade off the floor. He gives me a technical foul. That’s my job to get my player away from the referee, get us back to halftime so we can have the conversations that we need to have. So the same referee who comes into the game as not objective, and then he goes out and makes those calls.”
In the postgame ref pool report, Goble said he gave Bickerstaff a tech for “continuous complaining,” and ejected Thompson for “aggressively approaching and making contact with the official.”
Bickerstaff said, ”That same referee, if you take a look at the play where he ejects A.T., he steps towards A.T. That’s where the minimal contact happens, where he steps towards him and initiates it.”
Bickerstaff said the loss wasn’t because of the refs, but said “one guy” was trying to make it about the refs. “And that’s not what this should’ve been. ... But anybody who comes into the game and says ‘Night by night,’ he clearly has an unobjective point of view.”
Goble is in his 17th season as an NBA ref.