Steve Dykes/Associated Press
The NBA fined Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy $15,000 Sunday for publicly criticizing officials following his team’s 100-87 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday, according to Yahoo Sports’ Shams Charania.
“They held and grabbed on every play and they got away with fouls all over the place. We got absolutely screwed all night,” Van Gundy said, per the Detroit News‘ Rod Beard. “Luke [Kennard] makes a back-cut to the basket on an out-of-bounds play and gets knocked down and they end up with two points at the other end.
“Blake [Griffin] has two straight drives in the fourth that he gets hammered on. It’s not a clean strip when you slap down and the ball goes up in the air. Try it sometime: Somebody hold the ball, hit the guy on the ball and knock it down and see if it goes up in the air. He gets screwed twice.”
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Van Gundy also had some pointed words for the officials regarding no-calls.
“[Officials say] ‘If I saw it, I would have called it’—well, you know what? Your damn job is to see it,” he said “Referees, I love that. That’s an excuse: ‘I didn’t see it.’
“Why the hell do we have you out there? [Kennard] is the guy cutting—that’s where the ball is being passed. It’s not happening on the weak side of the floor. It’s embarrassing for them and for the league that they’re not going to make that call.”
Following Saturday’s loss, the Pistons (30-39) are 10-24 dating back to the start of January. They now sit 6.5 games back of the eighth-seeded Miami Heat with 13 games to play.