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CLEVELAND – Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert suggested that sports betting is influencing the way NBA referees call games after one of them called him a technical foul with 27.8 seconds left in the game. regulation time of an eventual overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday.
Gobert was whistled for his sixth foul and disqualification with Minnesota leading by one point, and responded by flashing the money sign with both hands, like he was Johnny Manziel in the end zone. Referee Natalie Sago saw him do it and slapped him with a technical, sending Cleveland’s Darius Garland to the line for a free throw that tied the game at 97.
The Cavs won 113-104.
“My reaction, which I believe to be true, is what I truly believe, even if it’s the truth, it wasn’t the time to react that way,” Gobert said afterward. “I shouldn’t have done that. I cost my team the game and obviously they couldn’t wait to give me a technical. That was bad. “That was an immature reaction.”
When asked to clarify what he believed, Gobert said, “I made some mistakes. I dunked in the air. Mistakes happen. Referees also make mistakes. But sometimes I think they are more than mistakes. I think everyone in this league knows that. I think it has to improve.”
Gobert said he expects to be fined for his comments, for being “again the bad guy saying what I think is the truth.”
But he said he felt obligated to speak his mind because “I think it’s hurting our game.”
“I know the stakes and everything are getting bigger, but it shouldn’t feel like that,” Gobert said.
Gobert’s sixth foul was a fumble violation called against him when he and Cleveland’s Jarrett Allen tangled under the Timberwolves’ basket, struggling to corral a miss by Anthony Edwards. Early in the game, Gobert elbowed Allen in the ribs on a post move and was called for an offensive foul; Officials upgraded it to a flagrant foul-1 penalty after video review.
When Garland made the free throw after Gobert’s money sign gesture, the Cavs had a chance to win it in regulation, but Naz Reid blocked Garland’s 3-point attempt. Edwards, playing with multiple minor injuries, threw an aerial ball and the game went to overtime, where the Cavs dominated the extra session.
“I thought the game was called pretty much the same, both ways; I think both teams were a little frustrated, but that’s basketball,” said Minnesota assistant coach Micah Nori, who replaced coach Chris Finch (illness).
Nori called it “unacceptable” that Gobert received a technical foul so late in a close game.
“We just have to be smarter,” Nori said. “I think she made a picture or something, it’s automatic. And we all know Rudy. There is no guy more professional than him. At that moment, for him to do that, he obviously feels really bad about it. We just have to be a little better.”
As Gobert alluded to, this is not the first time he has expressed his displeasure with officiating. He has made critical comments several times throughout his career, including last season.
Last March, after a loss at Phoenix, Gobert said: “I’ve been in this league for 10 years and I always try to give the benefit of the doubt, but it’s hard for me to think that they’re not trying to help (the Suns) They win tonight. It’s hard for me to think that they didn’t try to help the Warriors win the other night or the Sacramento Kings win the other night. It is so obvious. As a basketball player who’s been in the league for so long, to be honest, it’s disrespectful and it sucks.”
Sports betting is legal in 38 states, including Ohio, where there is a brick-and-mortar sportsbook at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, operated by Caesars. The NBA, like other major professional sports in the US, has embraced fans betting on its games and, in 2021, announced DraftKings and FanDuel as its two official sports betting partners.
The league office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story.
Allen scored a career-high 33 points, including 15 of 21 at the free throw line, and Garland scored 34 points. Reid scored a career-high 34 points off the bench and tied a career-high with seven 3-pointers for the Wolves, who were playing their second game since All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns went down with a torn meniscus. Edwards, one night after his game-saving block and header off a rim that went viral, scored 19 points but was 7-for-27.
The loss dropped the Timberwolves (44-20) to second place in the Western Conference, a half-game behind the Oklahoma City Thunder (44-19). The Cavs (41-22) are in a tight race with Milwaukee for second place in the East.
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(Photo: Ken Blaze / USA Today)