Washington Wizards star guard Bradley Beal and coach Scott Brooks believe opposing teams get away with holding Beal more often than they should. On Sunday, their frustration with the referees boiled over.
Brooks delivered an uncharacteristic harangue about the officiating during his postgame press conference after the LA Clippers beat the Wizards Sunday night, 135-119, and Beal said his frustration level with the referees was “out the roof.”
Brooks was assessed a technical foul during the first quarter, and guard Ish Smith earned one in the fourth after he complained to referees about a Clippers foul against Beal they had missed.
“When Ish gets a T, I know something’s going on,” Brooks said. “That guy is the nicest guy on the planet. And when he gets a technical by just telling a referee to call it the same on the other end — but you know what, we got to play through it.”
Brooks wasn’t done. The veteran coach raised his voice as he broke down why the perceived imbalance in calls bothered him.
“The rule is, you can’t grab a guy with two hands. It’s not my rule. It’s not their rule. It’s the NBA rule,” Brooks said. “And if they’re not gonna call those, what are we gonna do? We’re gonna get frustrated, we’re gonna get T’s and that’s not fair. That’s not fun for the players, not fun for the coaching, it’s not fun for anybody.
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“If we grab them, I expect them to get the same call. They see it, they see it. Brad gets held all the time.”
Beal believes NBA referees allow opponents to hold him and “a lot of stuff” without calling it properly, saying it was unacceptable.
“I mean, they fine us for saying something (after games), then when we do say something on the floor, it’s ’I didn’t see it’ or ’It wasn’t my call’ and I’m just so tired of hearing it,” Beal said. “It’s three guys out here. I know nobody’s perfect, but the blatant ones have to be called. That (expletive) ain’t fair.”
Beal thanked teammates like Smith and Davis Bertans for sticking up for him in the heat of the moment.
“We’re all in it together,” Beal said. “We know that everybody doesn’t respect us with the greatest of respects around the league. That’s other teams, and that’s refs included. We just gotta control what we can control and leave them alone and just play basketball.”
Teammate Troy Brown Jr. said Beal has tried to avoid gaining a reputation for complaining about officiating.
“I don’t really know how the (league) fine stuff works about the refereeing stuff, so I’m not gonna really comment on that,” Brown said. “But at the end of the day, I do feel like Brad does sometimes get the short end of the stick. It goes a long way with anybody. It’s night in and night out. Refs have a job and they’re paid to do it and they make the calls.”
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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