Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you, right? No matter the market, fanbase or body of work, there’s always the suspicion that someone is out to get YOUR precious franchise in a bid to give the calls/glory/prizes to some other city. Small market teams have a more legitimate rationale for this line of paranoia (howdy, Sacramento!), and a top star from the small market crop is suggesting his team is getting screwed by the folks with whistles.
Paul George vented his frustration over the way the calls went in the Pacers’ 90-85 loss to the Bulls on Monday. In George’s view, Indiana is getting burned by a lack of respect from the Association. Via Nick Friedell of ESPN.com:
“Since I’ve been in this jersey we’ve always fought this battle,” he told reporters. “Ever since I’ve been playing, ever since I’ve been in this jersey we’ve fought this battle. Maybe the league has teams they like so they can give them the benefit of the doubt. We’re the little brother of the league. We’re definitely the little brother of the league.”
George, who went to the charity stripe only once in his 39 minutes on the court Monday, admitted that citing a lack of calls has gotten him into trouble before. He’s still gonna talk about it, though, including his belief that decisions from “somewhere else” have influenced how Pacers games have been officiated.
“I’ve been fined multiple times,” George told reporters. “I’ve been vocal to the point where the league issues [a statement], ‘Hey, we missed a call. Hey, we missed that.’ Officials do it during games [saying], ‘I missed that call, I missed this call. We’re sorry. We’re sorry.’ It’s getting repetitive. They see it, they know what’s going on. They know what’s a foul. They know what’s not a foul. It comes down from somewhere else how these games are going, I believe.”
Hmm … Was this addressed in Forget Paris? (Bring us the truth, Billy Crystal!) Pacers coach Nate McMillan also criticized the way Monday’s game was called, although he was a bit more diplomatic about the performance of the refs. Right or no, we suspect George will probably add to his fine total for suggesting patently unfair treatment, which is sort of unfair treatment in itself. Maybe the referee customer service hotline isn’t set up just yet?
(Via ESPN)
