Cleveland Cavaliers could not get past Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night. Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff was fuming during the last two minutes of the game.
The refs decided to award Nets’ veteran guard Patty Mills with an offensive foul, deeming Ricky Rubio’s attempt was in an unnatural shooting motion.
At the time, Brooklyn was up by one with 2:28 remaining. A little more than 10 seconds later, the Nets’ lead was four following a dagger 3-pointer from Mills.
After the game, the Cavaliers’ head coach called out the officials for their decisions during the game. The veteran head coach deemed there’s a lack of respect for his team.
“We matched intensity, but what we have to do and have happen is match consistency,” Bickerstaff said, per cleveland.com. “That’s in our performance. That’s the referee’s performance. That’s in all aspects of the game.
We saw it tonight, we saw it the other night. We have to find a way – as a staff, as players – to earn people’s respect, where it is consistent. That’s what this league is about. This league is about your reputation and you earn your reputation.
Those guys have earned their reputation. What’s right is right. I thought there were some calls that were definitely missed tonight that favored (Brooklyn), and that’s wrong. Our guys deserve better than that.”
Cleveland dropped its fourth game in a row, facing the Nets (two times), the Celtics, and the Warriors. The Cavaliers will continue the trend of facing top-tier NBA teams as they get ready to play Phoenix, which won their 13th straight on Thursday.
