Tag: Officiating

From Hield’s perspective, there’s not …

From Hield’s perspective, there’s not much you can do when playing the Lakers at Staples. It’s a familiar refrain for Kings fans still seething over Game 6 from 17 years ago. “One call changed the whole game,” Hield said. “It could have gone either way. It be like that sometimes, when the home team is favored all the time, especially in LA.”

There won’t be outrage at the level of …

There won’t be outrage at the level of Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals against the Lakers, but there were plenty of angry Kings after a game in which they shot only nine free throws — two through three quarters. Still, the Kings had a chance in the final seconds before the game was “stolen.” “The game came down to one play,” Hield said. “Sometimes in that situation you’ve got to let the game play out. I don’t think it was a foul the other way. So ask (referee) Rodney (Mott) what he think.”

How he fell — or was tripped by James — …

How he fell — or was tripped by James — depends on which locker room you were in, obviously. “I think we know what’s going on,” Barnes said. “But for us, it’s moving past this, getting better, and that’s all I’ll say about that.” Kings coach Luke Walton was much more diplomatic in discussing the final play. “We ran a play, we had a chance, we didn’t make it,” Walton said. “All we try to focus on as a team is what we can control and what we can control is execution, knocking down shots, making the extra pass.

Several minutes earlier, Beverley …

Several minutes earlier, Beverley expressed displeasure with the officiating. He was particularly perturbed about his sixth foul — a call made when he bumped chests with Harden away from the ball and about 30 feet from the basket — and a technical foul he received from the bench with 1:31 remaining. “I got a technical foul because I looked at the ref, I guess, too long, and I guess you can’t look at people in this league now,” Beverley said. “I don’t know. I don’t feel like that’s fair. As a unit, we work too hard — coaches work too hard, players work too hard, staff work too hard — to prepare for each game, and to let a game come down to referees and free throws I don’t think is fair. I think we deserved better, I think fans deserved better, and the people who paid their hard-earned money to watch us play, both teams, I think they deserved better also.”

Sean Payton doesn’t excuse Falcons loss with lopsided officiating

New Orleans Saints HC Sean Payton didn’t blame officiating in his team’s 26-9 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, pointing to their own mistakes.

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Few viewers expected the New Orleans Saints to get trounced by the Atlanta Falcons — coming out of the bye week, inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, in a year where the Saints have been nearly undefeated and the Falcons have gone nearly winless. But that’s not what happened, when Atlanta’s defense swarmed Drew Brees and the Saints offense, leaving town with a 26-9 win on their shoulders.

Some fans would point to the game’s officiating as a culprit in the upset. Whenever the Saints defense seemed to win on a crucial down, it seemed like someone was flagged for an illegal use of hands penalty; giving up five yards and an automatic first down. Saints defenders were penalized for that on four different occasions on Sunday, twice on third downs which would have forced an Atlanta punt. In total, New Orleans drew a dozen penalty flags and ceded 90 yards. The Falcons were flagged seven times, giving up 48 yards. That’s about as lopsided as it gets in the NFL.

But Saints coach Sean Payton doesn’t buy that as an easy explanation for his team’s loss. He rebuffed that notion during his postgame press conference, saying, “No, I thought the officiating was pretty good in this game. That had nothing to do with this game.”

Rather, Payton wants his team to look at their own mistakes and miscues. Excessive penalties are often a sign of poor execution and botched on-field decisions, and he looked back on the game as a big learning opportunity for just about everyone.

“Yes, absolutely, there’s a lot of corrections (to be made),” Payton continued, hammering his point home. “A lot of corrections. Look, it’s a good group here and they understand that tomorrow will be tough to watch it. It’ll go down. But shame on us if we can’t get those corrections made. That won’t be a problem. It’s much easier to come in and watch tape after you win, but that’s one of the things about this game that creates a little bit of toughness and grit.”

This Saints team has enjoyed plenty of success in recent years, having been built around a largely-intact core of players going back to the 2017 season opener; they’ve won 33 of their last 45 games together, and know what must be done to rebound from a poor outing like this one.

Still, knowing what to do and putting it into practice are two different things. And the Saints have a critical four-game stretch ahead of them, featuring three more NFC South divisional games (peaking with a prime-time rematch in Atlanta on Thanksgiving) and then a home game in the Superdome against the San Francisco 49ers. If Payton and the Saints can right the ship and handle their business, they could be in position to lock up the division title and maybe a top-two playoff seed by the end of it. But that’s easier said than done in a league where any team can win on any given Sunday.

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