It's simple, coach Dwane Casey of the Toronto Raptors lost his cool and his edge with reporters on Wednesday and was fined for $25,000 after criticizing the officials after the Atlanta Hawks escaped with a 93-92 victory.
It was late in the game and just seconds remained. DeMar DeRozan grabbed a rebound after a teammate missed. He went right back up and received a lot of contact from Al Harford and handful as the ball was rejected with time running out. The contact on DeRozan was visible in live action and even more noticeable on the replays.
You be the judge, fast forward to the end of the game to see the highlight.
Immediately following the no call, Coach Casey stormed on to the court and was visibly upset with the referees. Can you blame the man? In a postgame interview, he let the league and officials know exactly what was on his mind. Casey didn't hold anything back and even acknowledged the fact that he knew he would receive a fine.
“I’m tired of this,” Casey said. “I’m tired of losing games because of missed calls at the end of the game. I know the league’s going to come down on me for this, but I don’t care. Guys have fought their hearts out, played their hearts out and at the end of the game we get cracked, apology, go back to Canada.”
That's definitely an example of solidarity. He stood up for his guys the way a head coach or manager should on any team no matter what the sport. Wonder if the team will split that check?
Casey was simply appalled at the fact that these NBA referees somehow missed that foul at such a crucial point in the game.
"I've been in this league 18 years and I've never seen as many missed calls at the end of the game to cost us the game," Casey said. "We have good officials. Too good to miss calls and short-change these young men like that. And it's not right."
NBA Commissioner David Stern has been very adamant about players or coaches complaining. He's tired of seeing professionals crying after not getting calls. The policy of fining and handing out technical fouls is Stern's attempt to completely wipe out negative feedback from the game since he believes NBA players should behave and act like the professionals that they are.
The Raptors are 16-31, riding in last place in the Atlantic Division and 11th overall in the Eastern Conference standings.
