The NBA announced Thursday night that Paul George has been fined $10,000, after saying referees made a lot of “bad calls” in the aftermath of the Indiana Pacers’ 106-99 season-opening loss to the Toronto Raptors.
George finished with 17 points (on 17 shot attempts), to go along with twelve rebounds and eight assists in the L.
A total of 54 fouls were called in the game Wednesday.
From the press release and the Indy Star:
Indiana Pacers forward Paul George has been fined $10,000 for public criticism of officiating, it was announced today by Kiki VanDeWeghe, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.
“This whole game was a swing off us not making shots,” said George. “Every time we missed, they got the ball and they were going. We make those shots (then) this game is a lot slower for them. We’re able to set up. We missed shots, which opened the game up for them.”
At one point, the Pacers were tagged for 23 fouls, while the Raptors had just 13. Naturally, players showed frustration, which continued into the locker room after the game. […] “We felt like there were a lot of bad calls,” George said. “Close games like that, let us play. You’ve got a guy like (Kyle) Lowry who’s down on one end doing what he wants and then on the other end, he gets touched and the whistle’s getting blown. We (were) frustrated. We (were) very frustrated.”
