New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau opened up on his thoughts on the officiating after Saturday’s blowout loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, which included a Josh Hart ejection and a hefty load of foul calls.
“Like I always say, my thing with the officials, they’re going to miss some calls,” said Thibodeau via The New York Post. “It’s not easy. If it happens, you don’t want somebody to make a call on something he didn’t see it. If he didn’t see it I’d rather he — it’s unfortunate but that’s part of the game. You’ve just got to play on, move forward. That’s it.”
The Knicks lost Josh Hart early in Saturday’s game
Hart was ejected early in the second quarter after being handed two technical fouls for vehemently disagreeing with a call made on the floor.
The Knicks were then left even more shorthanded than they already were, as Mitchell Robinson is out for several weeks, and Jericho Sims was nearly unplayable Saturday night due to ineffective play.
There was also a surplus of free throws from both sides Saturday, as the Clippers shot 34 attempts from the charity stripe compared to the Knicks’ 26. The Knicks were tabbed with 22 personal fouls on the night, including five New York players, each being handed three fouls.
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Thibodeau backed up his team after frustrating loss
Thibodeau has been known to sympathize with the referees due to the difficult nature of making decisions in real-time. However, it is clear that while he understands that mistakes from the officials will occur, he opted to come to the defense of his team and expressed an ounce of frustration towards the referees after Saturday’s incident.
That frustration from Thibodeau could also be coincided with his team’s poor defense of late. They allowed 144 points to the Clippers, which was the fifth time in their last six games that they allowed at least 120 points to their opponent. The Knicks are 2-4 over that span.
Things will not get easier for the Knicks, as they will close out their four-game west coast trip with a game against the LA Lakers before heading back to New York for a road game against the Brooklyn Nets, followed by back-to-back home games against the Milwaukee Bucks.
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