Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie had a lot to say after Sunday’s heartbreaking 129-127 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Not only was he frustrated by the fact that Brooklyn battled back from an 18-point deficit only to lose on a clutch last-second shot by Hawks star Trae Young, but he was also furious with the way that the game was officiated.
There were 39 fouls called over the course of the game and 21 of them went against the Nets. That kind of disparity isn’t jarring and combined with the fact that Brooklyn shot one more free-throw than Atlanta 29-28, it’s tough to see in the numbers what Dinwiddie is referring to. It should be noted that Dinwiddie was called for a technical foul after he yelled “and one” after dunking over Hawks forward Onyeka Okongwu.
Ever since Dinwiddie came back to the Nets by way of the Kyrie Irving trade, the former Dallas Maverick has been doing a lot of complaining to the referee when a call doesn’t go his way. It seems that Dinwiddie lets his emotions get the better of him at times and that may have happened on Sunday. He goes into detail about his feelings about the officiating with Brian Lewis of the New York Post:
“I have a lot of last-second shots or game-winners, but it’s the lead up that’s the tough part without superstars. That’s what people miss.” If [someone] tries to climb KD’s back, they’re going to call it. If KD says and-one, they’re not giving him a tech. All these things change the flow of the game. [Stars] can cuss them out, they can do whatever, and they’ll let all that s–t slide. That’s where you miss the superstars, especially in the fourth quarter. The stretch from six minutes to 30 [seconds] left, that’s really where you miss it. If you get fouled, if you get touched, you’re going to get the call. Every time me and Trae Young did the same move, he gets free throws. On my end, they’re like ‘Are you really shooting it?’ Well, what else was I doing? They’re like ‘I don’t know. It’s bang-bang.’ Remember that happened to me four times; that’s eight free throws. The game isn’t close. We lose by two; I had eight free throws. Trae Young got it every time.”
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