Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff wasn’t satisfied with the referees’ performance in the loss to the Philadelphia 76ers (112-108).
The veteran coach called out the officials and said his team should have claimed the victory, but it ‘was taken from us’.
“We deserved to win that game. That game was taken from us. We did a great job defensively, making their two best players have a difficult time from the field.
But one thing you can’t defend is the free throw line. That’s absurd. That’s absurd. Our guys deserve way better than what they got tonight.
But the game has to be consistent on both ends of the floor. There’s contact on one end, it’s a foul. Contact on the other end, it’s got to be a foul.
Tonight, we were searching for that consistency and I don’t think we ever found it,” J.B. Bickerstaff told media, including Hedgeout.net, afterwards.
Joel Embiid and James Harden combined for 32 free-throw attempts and made 28 of them (17 and 11, respectively). For their part, the Sixers shot a total of 42 free throws (35/42), about 18 more than their season average.
But, J.B. Bickerstaff was frustrated more about the one-sided whistles and the lack of consistency from the referees.
Following their defeat, the Cavs dropped to 43-36 and hold the top play-in tournament spot. On the other hand, Philadelphia improved to 48-30 and clinched its playoff spot.
Comments