Festivus may be over, but Kevin Durant is still airing his grievances.
Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Durant went off on the NBA’s practice of releasing referee reports for the final two minutes of games.
“The refs didn’t lose us the game. We lost that game,” Durant said in reference to his Golden State Warriors’ Christmas Day loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, per Anthony Slater of the San Jose Mercury News. “I think it’s bull— the NBA throws the refs under the bus like that.
“You can’t fine us for when we go out there and criticize them and then throw them under the bus for the two-minute report,” the former MVP added. “What about the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter? I think it’s bull—. They should get rid of them. Refs don’t deserve that.”
The report for Sunday’s game revealed two critical officiating errors that cost the Warriors dearly down the stretch of the 109-108 defeat. First, the league admitted that Richard Jefferson should have been whistled for a personal foul for tripping Durant on the final play of the game and second, that LeBron James should have been given a technical foul for hanging on the rim after a dunk with 1:43 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The NBA began issuing the last two-minute reports in March 2015, perhaps as a way to foster greater accountability and transparency with regard to officiating. But the practice has essentially morphed into a counterproductive way of scapegoating referees that does absolutely nothing to change the outcomes of the games in question. As such, it isn’t hard to see where Durant, who has become a lot more outspoken ever since signing with Golden State over the summer, is coming from.
