A crew of enthusiastic referees took heart stage through the Brooklyn Nets’ 100-92 loss to the Orlando Magic on Sunday at Barclays Middle. The match noticed 60 fouls known as, greater than twenty greater than the league common this season (38.8).
As they did in Friday’s loss to the Magic, the Nets struggled offensively with main scorer Cam Thomas sidelined. They shot 30 of 79 (38 p.c) from the sector, and with the sport slowed to a snail’s tempo by fouls, they made simply 8 of 31 (26 p.c) from three.
Jordi Fernández had selection phrases for officers through the fourth quarter of the loss. Nets head coach developed his discontent post-match.
“Fouls are a giant a part of the sport. I can not say a lot. The sport is judged by three individuals, after which all of us should take part, and no matter occurs, occurs,” Fernandez mentioned. “There may be loads of frustration from the gamers and myself. The one factor I can do is ask my gamers to not complain and to proceed. And in the event that they level out our faults, if they’re faults, we’ll personal them, then we’ll transfer on to the subsequent possession. So we’ll maintain preventing, whether or not it is in opposition to 5 [players] or extra [than that].”
The official didn’t favor the Magic from a free throw standpoint. Orlando tried 31 to Brooklyn’s 30. Nonetheless, frequent fouls made it tougher for the Nets, who gave up measurement at nearly each place, to match their opponent’s physicality.
Nets categorical displeasure with officers after loss to Magic
With Day’Ron Sharpe, Noah Clowney and Dorian Finney-Smith already out, the Nets misplaced Ben Simmons halfway by the sport to a knee damage. Brooklyn misplaced the rebounding battle 52-33 with solely Nic Claxton accessible at heart.
Simmons additionally objected to the referee’s impression within the defeat.
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“There have been too many errors,” he mentioned. “The referees whistled an excessive amount of. They’d an excessive amount of impression on the sport… It’s the NBA, it’s important to be bodily.
Regardless of their criticism of the officers, the Nets left their mark defensively all through the defeat. They compelled 22 turnovers and held Magic star Franz Wagner to twenty factors on 4-of-17 taking pictures.
Nonetheless, Orlando’s size and physicality had a good larger impression in opposition to Brooklyn’s short-handed offense. The Nets didn’t generate constant appears to be like on the rim, scoring 38 factors within the paint in comparison with 54 for the Magic.
Dennis Schroder has struggled out of the gate whereas shouldering an enormous load as Brooklyn’s go-to offensive creator. He completed with 20 factors and 6 assists on 6-of-17 taking pictures.
Cam Johnson led the Nets with 26 factors on 9-of-17 taking pictures. He supplied a extra nuanced opinion on the officers’ postgame.
“I am going to simply say one factor: I do not envy the job of officers in an setting like that the place you possibly can in all probability name a foul on each play,” Johnson mentioned when requested concerning the physicality of the match. “The place do you draw the road?” Which of them are you calling? Which of them do not you name? It’s totally arduous as a result of it is a bodily match, and you are feeling caught, so that you battle again right away. You simply cannot name all of them. So I will not say [anything negative]I am not going to threat {dollars} like that.
“However it was a really aggressive match. They battle, they complain. We battle, we complain. You’re merely making an attempt to make your case heard. I simply attempt to let the referees perceive what you’re feeling and see. However this bodily facet was the central level of the sport.”
