Luka Doncic Claims FIBA Refs Feared Canada’s Dillon Brooks
When you’re a team like Slovenia with only one NBA-caliber player, you must receive a handful of favorable breaks to pull off an upset over an NBA-laden team like Canada.
Unfortunately for Slovenia, that didn’t happen on Wednesday, as they saw their FIBA World Cup journey end in a 100-89 quarterfinals loss to Canada. Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic finished with a team-high 26 points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals, but his game ended early as he was ejected nearly halfway through the fourth quarter after arguing for a foul that wasn’t called.
Although there’s no use in crying over spilled milk, it’s worth pointing out that Canada ended up with 33 free-throw attempts to Slovenia’s 19. Doncic gave his thoughts on the officiating after the match.
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"The referees told to one of the guys: 'We're not gonna call a foul on [Dillon Brooks] because he's coming at us,” Doncic said. “I know I complain a lot, but I don't think it's fair."
If what Doncic said is true, he’s correct in pointing out that it was an unfair advantage for Canada. A foul is a foul no matter how you want to slice it, and officials shouldn’t be deterred from making calls out of fear of a player ‘coming at them.’
Now, to be fair, Dillon Brooks was ejected as well after he got caught talking trash to a Slovenia player, but by that point, the damage had already been done through the course of three quarters.
Doncic knows he complains too much, and a lot of times he has a legitimate reason to do so. However, in the grand scheme of things, his complaining doesn’t change any of the calls that are missed. Going forward, Doncic will need to focus on keeping his emotions in check, and perhaps that will lead to him being able to gain the respect of the officials — both in international play and in the NBA.
