DALLAS — Detroit Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff singled out crew chief John Goble as “not objective” after their 116-114 overtime loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.
Bickerstaff never specified the official by name during his terse postgame media availability, but he repeatedly referenced calls made by Goble, including a technical foul and ejection of Pistons forward Ausar Thompson during the second quarter and a technical foul on Bickerstaff seconds after the halftime buzzer.
According to Bickerstaff, Goble told him during the game, “Night by night, this is how our interactions are.”
“So, that says to me that the referee is coming into the game not being objective,” Bickerstaff said. “OK? That same referee, at halftime, I get my technical foul. I don’t say anything to him. I go to grab Cade [Cunningham] to get Cade off the floor. He gives me a technical foul. That’s my job to get my player away from the referee, get us back to halftime so we can have the conversations that we need to have.
“So, the same referee who comes into the game who’s not objective, and then he goes out and makes those calls. [That] same referee, if you take a look at the play where he ejects A.T, he steps towards A.T., right? That’s where the minimal contact happens, where he steps towards him and initiates it.”
Goble told a pool reporter that Thompson was ejected “for aggressively approaching and making contact with an official.”
Goble cited “continuous complaining” for why Bickerstaff was assessed a technical at halftime. Cunningham, who was complaining to Goble before Bickerstaff intervened, had been called for a technical foul with 24 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
The Pistons rallied from an 18-point deficit in the second half to force overtime. Detroit had three shot attempts on its final offensive possession, when center Jalen Duren grabbed two offensive rebounds. Bickerstaff attempted to call a timeout from the backcourt after Duren’s second rebound of the possession, but the referees apparently did not see or hear him.
“That same referee is standing next to me,” said Bickerstaff, who shouted and stared down Goble immediately after the final buzzer. “Does not award me the timeout.”
The Mavs were also upset with the officiating at key junctures of the game.
Dallas coach Jason Kidd was in disbelief after center Anthony Davis was called for a foul on Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart with 3.4 seconds remaining, moments after rookie Cooper Flagg‘s pull-up jumper gave the Mavericks a one-point lead. Stewart split the free throws to tie the score.
Flagg, who finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks, was irate that he didn’t get a whistle after he fell to the floor on a drive to the basket in the final minute of overtime. Teammate Brandon Williams pulled Flagg away from the officials to make sure he didn’t get called for the first technical foul of his career.
“I want to make this clear, this game is not about the referees,” said Bickerstaff, whose East-leading Pistons had a 36-20 free throw disadvantage. “This was a highly contested game by two really competitive teams who [have] guys who laid it out on the line. But the [objectivity] needs to be addressed with what happened out there on the floor tonight.
“You had one guy who wanted to make the game about the referees when that’s not what this should have been. This was two teams competing their tails off, playing high-level basketball. But anybody who comes into the game and says ‘night by night,’ he clearly has an unobjective point of view. And again, we don’t care about how people referee us. We’re going to play physical. We walk that line, but all we’re asking for is fairness. And if you come into the game with something already on your mind, then you’re obviously going to have an impact on the way you referee the game.”
It was the sixth win in eight games for Dallas, as the Mavs improved to 11-17 and moved into the final play-in spot in the Western Conference standings.
“We’ve got a lot of fight left,” said Flagg, who has averaged 25.4 points on 52.4% shooting with 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists during that eight-game span. “We’re not rolling over and giving up and just saying we’re going to be a bad team. We’re going to keep fighting and competing and giving it our all every single night.”
