Following Minnesota’s 107–100 loss to Phoenix on Wednesday night in Arizona that kept the Timberwolves firmly in the play-in as the No. 7 seed in the West, star center Rudy Gobert sounded off on the game’s officiating.
Gobert, who has never been afraid to address the media and give his opinions on a given topic, didn’t shy away from leveling the officials for the way they call games against the Timberwolves, who faced a 27 to 12 free throw attempt disparity on Wednesday.
“It’s bull----,” Gobert began, per Christopher Hine of the Star Tribune. “Bull----. It’s not fair. It’s really not fair. Every night. I’ve been in this league for 10 years and I try to always give the benefit of the doubt, but it’s hard for me to think they’re not trying to help them win tonight. It’s hard for me to think they didn’t try to help the Warriors win the other night or Sacramento Kings the other night. It’s just so obvious. As a basketball player that’s been in this league for so long, it’s disrespectful and it sucks to be honest.
“We work so hard to be in a position to compete with the best and we just get manipulated into those situations where it just impacts the game for the other team too much. They know how to do it. They do it a lot of different ways. Tonight was another way of doing it. But it’s all good. We understand that it’s also a business. Unfortunately, it’s sad, but it’s good also. It’s really good. But it’s true. We understand that we’re not the biggest of the markets and we’re a team that—I think you want to see [Kevin Durant] in the playoffs, Steph [Curry] in the playoffs, you want to see LeBron [James] in the playoffs. The Timberwolves are not there yet. We got to keep putting our head down, keep playing through that and it’s frustrating for sure, especially for me.”
There will likely be a hefty fine coming Gobert’s way, which he is sure to be willing to pay if he gets his point across to the league’s officials moving forward.
