LA Clippers All-Star Paul George was fined $35,000 by the NBA for critical comments he made about officiating following Wednesday’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
Frustrated over not getting foul calls after repeatedly drawing contact in the paint, George characterized his conversations with officials as “just a bunch of lies” when he tried to plead his and the Clippers’ case when it comes to non-calls.
“Can’t go too much further than that, it’s a bunch of lies,” George said after the Clippers’ 105-89 loss to the Mavericks. “They know what’s going on.
“We’re putting a lot of pressure at the rim. It’s insane that we’re not getting these calls,” he said calmly. “But it is what it is. It’s nothing new to me. Hopefully we’ll send a bunch of clips in. League’s gotta take a look at this.”
Last season, George was fined $35,000 for publicly criticizing officials for saying there was “home cooking” in a 110-103 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Frustration has been building for George and the Clippers this season over a lack of favorable calls following contact. George has drawn contact during games on drives into the paint but has found himself not getting the whistle.
Of the 27 players selected as an All-Star this season, George has the ninth-highest percentage of fouls called on shots in the paint. Teammate Kawhi Leonard has the 14th-highest percentage out of the 27 All-Star players, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information.
While George has said that this has been a trend throughout his career, the Clippers average 6.6 shots per game in the paint that lead to a foul, according to Second Spectrum. That is the fourth fewest in the NBA this season, behind only Portland, Denver and Phoenix.
“I mean, our job is to be aggressive, attack,” George said. “We can’t do much more than that, right? If they not gonna call it, they not gonna call it. And that’s the suck part about it because we’re not flopping players, we’re not players that’s like throwing our bodies into other players.”
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