Rudy Gobert’s sizable bank account is about to write a hefty check to the league office after he let loose on the refereeing after Wednesday night’s loss to the Phoenix Suns.
“It’s really not fair. Ever 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 they’re not trying to help them win tonight,” said Gobert.
In the 107-100 loss to Phoenix, the Wolves shot 12 free throws while the home team were given 27. Devin Booker by himself had 15 attempts from the line.
“It’s hard for me to think they didn’t try to help the Warriors win the other night or Sacramento Kings the other night. It’s just so obvious,” continued Gobert. “As a basketball player that’s been in this league for so long, it’s disrespectful and it sucks, to be honest.”
If this is an offensive foul Shaq never scored a legitimate basket in his entire career. https://t.co/Ufw0YVXe1n
— D Train (@sdskol1983) March 30, 2023
Gobert was called for a pair of illegal screens late in Wednesday night’s game, four of his five fouls were offensive fouls against the Suns.
Although the amount of calls going other teams’ way has been noticeably lopsided in recent games, most of the illegal screens called on Gobert Wednesday night were correct.
Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch was a bit more measured in his comments, though he suggested that the Suns’ recent complaints about the lack of foul calls worked in their favor.
“It works because tonight they went to the line 27 times and we went to the line 12 times,” he said. “Sitting up here and talking about it or whatever, must have worked for them. Because this is a team that doesn’t historically draw fouls at the rate they did.”
Were there some bad calls? Sure. But Gobert's screens were legit illegal most of the time.
Also, if you have a guy score 20 points in the first half, he probably needs more than 5 shots in the second half.
Plenty of things the Wolves could've done better beyond whistle
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) March 30, 2023
According to Pro-Basketball-Reference the Suns draw the third fewest fouls in the league this season at 21.6 per game.
The Wolves draw the middle of the league with 23.7 fouls per game while giving up the most at 26.2 per game. Phoenix have been giving up 25.8 per game this season.
Gobert finished his comments saying: “We understand that we’re not the biggest of the markets and we’re a team that – I think you want to see KD in the playoffs, Steph in the playoffs, you want to see LeBron in the playoffs. Timberwolves are not there yet.”
Next up for the Wolves is a Friday night national tv game against the Lakers.
