Kyrie Irving after Cavs’ loss to Hawks: ‘How much is the fine for talking about the refs?’
Sunday’s demoralizing overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks was an exercise in self-control for the Cleveland Cavaliers, especially All-Star guard Kyrie Irving.
After the Cavs blew a 26-point fourth quarter lead to lose to the Hawks for the second time in three nights, Irving considered sounding off on the officiating before ultimately deciding that the fine wasn’t worth it, per FOX Sports Ohio.
"How much is the fine for talking about the refs?"
Kyrie wanted clarity before deciding whether to discuss key calls that hurt the @cavs. pic.twitter.com/grwEqCVDDA
— FOX Sports Ohio (@FOXSportsOH) April 9, 2017
Some suspect calls were definitely made down the stretch, particularly a blown jump ball ruling late in the fourth quarter and LeBron James being whistled for a highly dubious sixth foul early on in the overtime period.
Both Hawks defenders were out of bounds on the final jump ball. pic.twitter.com/rLBCnks0ys
— SB Nation NBA (@SBNationNBA) April 9, 2017
Bron fouled out on this. pic.twitter.com/BlhvwZcvK2
— Michael Gallagher (@MikeSGallagher) April 9, 2017
Nevertheless, it was still some flat-out terrible two-way execution by the Cavs to blow a lead that big that late in the first place. For Irving, who has had some injury frustration to deal with in recent days as well, he and the rest of his teammates will have to dig deep, as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference appears to be very much in peril with two games left to play.
