Bickerstaff says ref Goble entered game with bias against Pistons

DALLAS – Detroit Pistons coach JB Bickerstaff called team leader John Goble “non-objective” after their 116-114 overtime loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.

Bickerstaff never specified the official’s name during his brief postgame media availability, but he repeatedly referenced calls made by Goble, including a technical foul and ejection of Pistons forward Ausar Thompson during the second quarter and a technical foul on Bickerstaff seconds after the halftime buzzer.

According to Bickerstaff, Goble told him during the game: “Night after night, this is how our interactions go.”

“So that tells me that the referee is going into the game without being objective,” Bickerstaff said. “OK? This same referee, at halftime, I get my technical foul. I don’t say anything to him. I’m going to catch Cade [Cunningham] to get Cade off the ground. He makes a technical foul on me. It’s my job to get my player away from the referee, to get us back to halftime so we can have the conversations we need to have.

“So the same referee who comes into the game and is not objective, and then he goes out and makes these calls. [That] same referee, if you watch the play where he ejects AT, he goes towards AT, right? This is where the minimal contact occurs, where he advances towards him and initiates him. »

Goble told a pool reporter that Thompson was ejected “for aggressively approaching and making contact with an official.”

Goble cited “continuous complaints” as to why Bickerstaff was rated technical at halftime. Cunningham, who complained to Goble before Bickerstaff’s intervention, was whistled for a technical foul 24 seconds from the end of the second quarter.

The Pistons rallied from an 18-point second-half deficit to force overtime. Detroit had three shot attempts on its final offensive possession, when center Jalen Duren grabbed two offensive rebounds. Bickerstaff tried to call a timeout from the backcourt after Duren’s second rebound of the possession, but the referees apparently neither saw nor heard him.

“That same ref is standing next to me,” said Bickerstaff, who yelled and looked at Goble immediately after the final buzzer. “Don’t give me any time out.”

The Mavs were also unhappy with the officiating at key points in the game.

Dallas coach Jason Kidd was in disbelief after center Anthony Davis was called for a foul on Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart with 3.4 seconds left, moments after rookie Cooper Flagg’s pull-up jumper gave the Mavericks a one-point lead. Stewart split free throws to tie the score.

Flagg, who finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks, was furious that he didn’t get a whistle after falling to the floor during a drive to the basket in the final minute of overtime. Teammate Brandon Williams pulled Flagg away from the officials to ensure he wasn’t penalized for the first technical foul of his career.

“I want to make it clear, this game is not about the refs,” said Bickerstaff, whose East-leading Pistons had a 36-20 free-throw advantage. “It was a closely fought match between two very competitive teams who [have] the guys who posted it. But the [objectivity] must be addressed with what happened on the field tonight.

“There was a guy who wanted to make the game about the referees when it wasn’t what it should have been. It was about two teams going against each other and playing high-level basketball. But anyone who comes into the game and says ‘night after night,’ he clearly has a non-objective point of view. And again, we don’t care how people officiate us. We’re going to play physical. We toe that line, but whatever we “What we’re asking for is fairness and if you go into the match with something already in mind, then obviously you’re going to have an impact on how you referee the match.”

It was the sixth win in eight games for Dallas, as the Mavs improved to 11-17 and moved into the final play-in spot in the Western Conference standings.

“We still have a lot of fight left,” said Flagg, who averaged 25.4 points on 52.4 percent shooting with 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists in those eight games. “We’re not going to roll over and give up and just say we’re going to be a bad team. We’re going to continue to fight and compete and give it our all every night.”