Oklahoma City Thunder star forward Paul George has been fined $25,000 for criticizing the officiating after the Thunder’s 118-110 loss to the LA Clippers Friday night.
“It’s just bad officiating,” George said after the game. “I’m sorry, just bad officiating. We don’t get a fair whistle. We haven’t gotten a fair whistle all year. … Somebody’s got to look into this. It’s getting out of hand, where we somehow just walk teams to the line. And there’s nobody that gets more contact. If I don’t speak for myself, I speak for Russ. There’s nobody that gets more contact than Russ going to the basket. And it’s just crazy.”
George, Russell Westbrook and Steven Adams all fouled out of Friday’s game — only the second time in the past 10 seasons that a team had three starters foul out in regulation, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
George was called for his sixth with 3:49 remaining in the game, whistled for an offensive foul on Patrick Beverly.
The Clippers went to the line 46 times compared with the Thunder’s 26 trips. On Thursday night, Oklahoma City watched Portland go to the free throw line 47 times, 15 more foul shots than the Thunder got in their 129-121 overtime win.
“I come out here and I do my job, and that’s to play and be a professional,” George told reporters Friday. “I don’t know if it’s Adam Silver that’s got to [look into] this. We expect the officiating to be professional as well.
“It’s just got to be called right. When we step on that floor, we got to feel like we are going to get a fair shot, a fair chance. That is what the change [in officiating] needs to be at.”
ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this report.