The Cleveland Cavaliers have won two consecutive games to tie the series up against the Detroit Pistons at 2-2. It was an impressive performance in Game 4 as Donovan Mitchell spearheaded a superb second half.
Despite that impressive performance from Cleveland and Detroit’s struggles, Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff wanted to point out his issue with the officiating, and his counterpart, Kenny Atkinson’s comments about the referees having an impact.
J.B. Bickerstaff criticizes the referees and Kenny Atkinson’s comments
It has been quite a competitive series between the Cavaliers and Pistons. Both teams have won their pair of home games in the series, and now it shifts back to Detroit for Game 5.
Apart from the standout performances and some struggling players, the referees are also a factor in this series. Earlier in the series, Atkinson made comments about the referees and how his players had to adjust to their calls.
Bickerstaff took note of those comments because, since then, he has felt that the Cavaliers have gotten more calls. It has led to some frustrations because the Pistons are a physical team that loves to drive into the paint.
Despite that, the free-throw disparity was stark in Game 4. The Cavs made 30 of their 34 attempts from the charity stripe, while the Pistons only shot 12 for the game and made nine of them.
“It’s unacceptable, it is. We didn’t do enough to help ourselves. I’ll start there. Ever since we came to Cleveland, the whistle has changed. There’s no way one guy on their team has more shots than our team,” Bickerstaff said in his presser after Game 4.
“We can’t allow that to be the reason why, because we didn’t play well enough… You look at the foul count and the disparity, that’s the reason why. Since Kenny made comments about us, since then, the whistle has changed.”
It will certainly be an interesting situation to keep track of in Game 5 and beyond. The Cavaliers thrived on free throws in Game 4, but that could change considering Bickerstaff has also called out the referees after what Atkinson did.
