The league fined DeMar DeRozan after his comments following the Kings loss.
There was no doubt that the Sacramento Kings were frustrated after their 116-110 loss to the Denver Nuggets, and DeMar DeRozan let the refs know about it in his postgame comments. Unfortunately, the league was not too fond of DeRozan’s comments and fined him for his criticism of the refs.
“Sacramento Kings guard-forward DeMar DeRozan has been fined $25,000 for public criticism of the officiating, it was announced today by Joe Dumars, Executive Vice President, Head of Basketball Operations, the NBA wrote. “DeRozan made his comments to the media following the Kings’ 116-110 loss to the Denver Nuggets on March 5 at Ball Arena.”
During the game, the refs called 20 personal fouls on the Kings compared to 14 fouls for the Nuggets. The Nuggets shot 16 more free throws than the Kings, and in the fourth quarter, the Kings committed seven foul calls. After the game, DeRozan had a mouthful to say about the refs.
“The refs were terrible; terrible as s**t. It’s as simple as that,” DeRozan said via Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee. “There were multiple (calls missed). Check the free-throw difference.
“There was a bunch of times we got hit, got smacked. It was three, four shots I took, clearly got hit, got smacked. They get the same call on the other end. Throws off our whole rhythm. Gives them momentum at home. Makes it tough on us to execute. It was a game we should have had.”
The Kings are in the stretch of their season as they’re trying to stay in the Play-In mix. They’re currently ninth in the Western Conference, and it’s going to be a tight race for the Play-In spots. Over the past few weeks, the Kings have been playing good basketball, and next, they have a matchup against an old friend, De’Aaron Fox, who they traded to the San Antonio Spurs.