JB Bickerstaff on officiating: ‘Our guys deserve better than that’

Calls/missed calls happen all the time. That’s sports. But he’s felt for a while there’s a deeper issue: A lack of his respect for his team. Asked specifically about matching Brooklyn’s intensity, Bickerstaff quickly shifted the conversation. “We matched intensity, but what we have to do and have happen is match consistency,” Bickerstaff said. “That’s in our performance. That’s the referee’s performance. That’s in all aspects of the game. We saw it tonight, we saw it the other night. We have to find a way — as a staff, as players — to earn people’s respect, where it is consistent. That’s what this league is about. This league is about your reputation and you earn your reputation. Those guys have earned their reputation. What’s right is right. I thought there were some calls that were definitely missed tonight that favored (Brooklyn), and that’s wrong. Our guys deserve better than that.