The Knicks have clearly been frustrated by the officiating during two games on their road trip, but after their 117-108 loss to the Magic, Tom Thibodeau was irate.
Thibodeau said that he “didn’t know what a foul was” in the second half and was not happy at all with the way his guard Jalen Brunson was being treated by officials.
“I am so, like, what this guy is going through is ridiculous. Ridiculous,” Thibodeau said after the Knicks dropped their second straight game. “You’re getting hammered time after time, I’m just getting sick and tired of it.
“Like, I watch . I send it in. I see it all. And it’s, they’re fouls. It’s plain and simple, they’re fouls and there’s no other way to say it, except they’re fouls. They’re fouls. No one drives the ball more to the rim than this guy does. And if you rake across his arm, you rake across his arm. And if you hit him in the head, you hit him in the head. Those are fouls. Those are fouls. [I’m] sick and tired of it. Sick and tired of it.”
Julius Randle also expressed his frustrations.
He had a push-off foul on Goga Bitadze on an offensive rebound late in the game upheld by replay, but was disappointed with the officials inconsistencies.
“That’s all I can say, man, it’s just not. It’s not consistent,” Randle said. “A couple of plays before, when they called me for grabbing a guy’s arm, he pushed me in the back.
“We talked about [arm] extension last game [in Oklahoma City]. I mean, if you look at the replay, I still didn’t extend my arm. There’s going to be contact. It’s in the paint, it’s a box-out, there’s going to be contact. He sold the call. It’s just the consistency. I know they have a tough job.
“So I’m not going to sit here and kill them about what they’re doing, whatever they’re doing. Just a little bit more consistency would be appreciated.”
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