‘Bulls**t! Not Fair!’ Rudy Gobert One-Ups Luka Doncic Refs Criticism
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If Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic got fined $35k for making a money gesture after a disappointing loss to the Golden State Warriors last week, Minnesota Timberwolves’ big man Rudy Gobert better prepare for an even bigger hit to his wallet.
The Timberwolves fell to the Phoenix Suns in a 107-100 loss on Wednesday night. The game was important for both teams, but especially Minnesota, considering it is jockeying for play-in tournament positioning while also still having a slim chance to get to the No. 6 seed.
After the loss, Gobert went off on the officials in a lengthy postgame rant when Chris Hine of the Star Tribune asked about the whistles affecting the game.
"It's bullshit. Bullshit. It's really not fair," Gobert said. "Every night. I've been in this league for 10 years and I try to always give the benefit of the doubt, but it's hard for me to think [the officials] are not trying to help [the Suns] win tonight. It's hard for me to think they didn't try to help the Warriors win the other night, or the Sacramento Kings the other night.”
Gobert continued: “It’s just so obvious. "As a basketball player that's been in this league for so long, it's disrespectful, and it sucks, to be honest. We work so hard to be in a position to compete with the best, and we just get manipulated into those situations where it just impacts the game for the other team too much. They know how to do it. They do it a lot of different ways. Tonight was another way of doing it.”
Given the league’s history with fixed officiating — the Tim Donaghy betting scandal from 2007 remains fresh in many people’s minds — commissioner Adam Silver doesn’t take kindly to players suggesting similar issues are occurring today.
"We understand that it's also a business. Unfortunately. It's sad,” Gobert said. “We understand that we're not the biggest of the markets. … I think you want to see [Kevin Durant] in the playoffs, Steph [Curry] in the playoffs, you want to see LeBron [James] in the playoffs. The Timberwolves are not there yet. We got to keep putting our head down, keep playing through that, and it's frustrating for sure, especially for me."
Doncic and former Mavs guard Spencer Dinwiddie could tell Gobert from experience that this kind of talk about NBA officials likely won’t help his case. If anything, it gives officials a reason to not like him. They are human beings after all.
Regardless, if Doncic got fined $35k for simply making a money gesture suggesting that the officials were paid off … then we think it’s safe to say Gobert’s fine will exceed that figure by quite a bit.
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