The way the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks has been officiated has become a main subplot of the series.
Marcus Smart and Ime Udoka disagreed with a foul on Bucks guard Jrue Holiday with 4.6 seconds left in Game 3 on Saturday with Smart and Udoka believing the Boston guard got fouled in the act of shooting. Instead, the referees ruled that Holiday’s infraction came before any shot attempt.
Now, Milwaukee general manager Jon Horst is sounding off about the officiating in the series, especially in Game 3. Horst is convinced the Bucks, who hold a 2-1 series lead heading into Game 4 on Monday night, aren’t getting the whistles they deserve.
“I mean this sincerely: I do respect that, at the end of the day, it is a hard job, right? I couldn’t do their job. You couldn’t do their job,” Horst told The Atheltic’s Eric Nehm on Sunday. “Officiating is hard, just like playing is hard and coaching is hard, and I think we all have a standard of trying to get better and improve. And at the end of the day, that’s what stood out to me. We have to improve. That wasn’t a quality playoff basketball game, and I think officiating played a role in that.”
Horst was displeased with several things that occurred in Milwaukee’s narrow Game 3 victory. The free-throw disparity, in which the Celtics (34) took twice the amount as the Bucks (17), irked Horst as well as Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo not attempting a free throw despite eight shots in the paint in the fourth quarter, per Nehm.
Horst also highlighted Holiday’s statistical anomaly. Holiday took 30 shots in Game 3, but didn’t attempt a single shot from the charity stripe — the first player since 1993 to do so in a playoff game — while Derrick White (8) and Jaylen Brown (11) both had playoff career-highs in free-throw attempts in the loss.
“When you start looking at the numbers, it’s just, it’s pretty outrageous,” Horst said. “And I think our players and Boston’s players just deserve to have it be addressed and have it be looked at and to just have some improvement.
“I understand how hard the job is and things happen, but you just want a fair game at the end of the day. I think the stats really speak for themselves.”
Horst got one last parting shot in as he called out Grant Williams. Horst was upset that Williams wasn’t called for a foul on Grayson Allen in the second quarter. Williams tried to box out Allen, who was coming down the lane, and Allen hit the deck when contact was made.
“But I would just say, and I know they are self-reflective because they are good at their jobs, but the Grant Williams play on Grayson, it’s just uncalled for,” Horst said. “Anyone who watched that play knows it was dangerous. Grayson was sore last night. He was sore again this morning. I think he’ll play in Game 4, but it was a dangerous play. It was a non-basketball play. And it’s uncalled for.”
The spotlight will still be fixated on the refereeing as this series continues with Game 4 on Monday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET in Milwaukee.
