Rudy Gobert's accusations on NBA helping the Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns win - "It's bulls**t"
The NBA has had a couple of big headlines over the past few days. The Golden State Warriors secured a big win at home against the New Orleans Pelicans. Kevin Durant (sprained ankle) and LeBron James (right foot tendon injury) finally returned to the court after being sidelined for weeks. These are just two of the developments.
With championship aspirations, the Phoenix Suns are riding a three-game winning streak after securing a 107-100 win against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.
The Timberwolves have now won only five of their past 10 games. A frustrated Rudy Gobert talked about how the NBA favors teams like the Warriors and the Suns.
"It’s bulls**t," Gobert said. "It’s bulls**t. It’s not fair. It’s really not fair. 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 [the Suns] win [last night]. 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."
Rudy Gobert said the NBA doesn't consider the Timberwolves to be a big-market team compared to the LA Lakers, Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns. He said:
"We understand that we're not the biggest of the markets and we're a team that — I think you want to see KD [Kevin Durant] in the playoffs, Steph [Stephen Curry] in the playoffs, you want to see LeBron [James] in the playoffs. [The] Timberwolves are not there yet."
Is the NBA favoring certain teams?
It can never truly be proven whether the NBA favors certain teams when it comes to getting certain calls going their way.
In last night's matchup between the Phoenix Suns (41-35) and the Minnesota Timberwolves (39-38), the Suns had 27 free-throw attempts to the Timberwolves' 12.
Interestingly enough, during the Suns and Lakers meeting last Wednesday, Monty Williams criticized the officiating as well.
"When do you see a game with 46 free throws, for one team? That's not right," Williams said. "... Other teams are reaching. Other teams are hitting. And we're not getting the same call, and I'm tired of it."
The LA Lakers had 46 free-throw attempts in that game, while the Phoenix Suns only had 20 attempts.