Tristan Thompson Asked About Officials After Game 2: 'I'm Over the Referee S--t'
Tristan Thompson isn't leaning on officiating as an excuse for the Cleveland Cavaliers' 2-0 NBA Finals deficit against the Golden State Warriors.
"I'm over the referee s--t," Thompson told reporters following the Cavaliers' 122-103 Game 2 loss at Oracle Arena on Sunday night. "At the end of the day, if you don't give effort and you don't play hard, you're never going to give yourself a chance to win.
"At the end of the day, you control what you can control. Just go out and play. Go out and play. Miss or make, you think you got fouled, you think it's a travel, you got to get back on defense and communicate. And that's what Golden State wants. They want you to hang back, complain to the refs and complain cuz they're gonna come down and knock a three in your face. We can't be worried about that."
The Cavaliers had some serious gripes with the officiating in Game 1 when a charge against Kevin Durant was overturned to a block on LeBron James following a review with 36.4 seconds remaining in regulation.
"For our team to come out and play their hearts out and compete the way we did, man, I mean, it's bad," head coach Tyronn Lue said after Game 1, per USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt. "It's never been done before where you know he's outside the restricted, and then you go there and overturn the call and say it's a block. It's never been done, ever, in the history of the game. And then (Thursday) in the Finals on the biggest stage, when our team played well, played our (butt) off, man, it ain't right. It ain't right."
However, it would be hard to argue a missed call or two—including a no-call when James stumbled after catching an outlet pass in traffic—was responsible for Cleveland's demise on Sunday.
Stephen Curry matched the Cavaliers' three-point total with nine conversions from deep, and the Cavs allowed the Warriors to shoot 70 percent on two-point field-goal attempts. Plus, the Cavaliers attempted 26 free throws compared to Golden State's 21 and still came up well short.
As Thompson said, Cleveland will have to be sharper in all phases if it wants to avoid falling in an 3-0 hole when the series resumes Wednesday night.
