Cavs guard cries foul; Durant embarrassed
CLEVELAND—Once the whistles stopped blowing, Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome cried foul.
Upset with an inordinate number of personals called during Cleveland’s 133-129 overtime win against Portland on Sunday, Jerome didn’t hold back in criticizing the officiating crew—zeroing in on referee Natalie Sago.
“I thought the refs were really bad tonight, especially Natalie [Sago], she was really bad,” Jerome said. “Stuff like that happens. They kind of lose control of the game, and you just got to keep your head. I thought that first half was ridiculous. Third quarter was horrendous.
“You just got to keep your head and keep playing.”
The teams were called for a combined 53 fouls and the Trail Blazers and Cavs shot 70 free throws—35 apiece—in a game that never found any flow.
Jerome faces a likely fine from the NBA for his postgame remarks after the Cavs improved to 50-10 by rallying from an 18-point deficit to push past the scrappy Blazers.
Jerome, who finished with 25 points, six assists and a career-high six steals, was issued a technical foul for arguing his case. He wasn’t the only one upset with the calls.
“The game was so choppy,” said Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson. “I’ll have to go back and look at the film. We have great referees in this league. I just thought it wasn’t a great spectacle for the fans or for the media, or for us as coaches. It would just seem like it was constant stoppage. I’ll just leave it at that.”
Brutal Suns season
In Phoenix, a brutal season for the Suns hit a low on Sunday night with a humiliating 116-98 home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“We didn’t play up to our standards at all,” All-Star forward Kevin Durant said. “We embarrassed the fans and we embarrassed ourselves the way we played. I want us to be better.”
There’s not much evidence that’s going to happen.
Phoenix lost for the 11th time in 14 games and fell to 28-33 for the season. The team is four games behind the Dallas Mavericks for the final spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament and will need a minor miracle over the last 21 games of the season just to have a chance at the postseason.
It’s far from the situation that the Suns expected back in October. They started the year with championship aspirations with a highly-paid and accomplished roster that includes Durant, four-time All-Star Devin Booker and three-time All-Star Bradley Beal.
“We’ve got to go on a run, but it’s got to start,” coach Mike Budenholzer said. “There’s no doubt that the standings, the circumstances that we’re in, there’s an awareness and we’ve got to do something to change it.”
Scattered boos were heard from the home crowd in the final minutes.
Phoenix tied a season-high with 22 turnovers and gave up a season-high 40 points off those turnovers. Durant, Booker and Beal combined for 14 of the turnovers.
“That’s why we lost,” Durant said. “Forty points off turnovers, tough to overcome that. They didn’t overpower us on the glass, we just gave them the ball.”
