Players have also felt robbed in games as they feel they deserve calls they don’t get. The same was the case for the Golden State Warriors super guard Stephen Curry, who got T’d up for his reaction.
The New York Knicks visited their neighbors Brooklyn Nets for the first time this season and Julius Randle was not happy with the way the game was officiated. The Knicks lost by two points, 112-110, which is why it is understandable that Randle is upset he did not get calls that could have given his team the advantage. When asked if he is surprised he does not get as many calls, he responded (2:45):
“Gotta ask them. I don’t know what they watching or what they seeing but you gotta ask them. As aggressive as I play, attacking the paint, you know I can’t be penalized for just being stronger than people, and that’s the answer that I got today.”
When asked to confirm if that’s what the referees said, he concurred:
“They said because certain contacts don’t affect me like it affects other players because I’m stronger, they miss the call.”
Randle was asked how he felt, and he had this to say:
“It pisses me off, even more, to be honest with you because that’s not how you officiate the game. With basketball, usually, when smaller players are guarding the bigger players they get away with a lot more. But certain things are just a little bit more blatant. If you just slap a guy, I don’t care who he is, it’s gonna affect him.”
Listening to that, NBA analyst Shaquille O’Neal had a piece of advice for the Knicks forward.
“Nobody roots for Goliath, nobody cares. So I’m saying this to say that, ‘play through it big man.’ You are correct. You are strong, you not gonna get all the calls, they not gonna slow the game down for us. So what you gotta do is make them call the foul.”
“Remember, nobody roots for Goliath, nobody cares. The little guys don’t care, they don’t care about us big guys. But you can do it. All the big guys that did it, you can do it. Stop whining, stop complaining, they don’t care, they not gonna give you the calls, but that’s okay. Just play through it big dawg.”
Coming from the most dominant player in league history, according to Stephen A. Smith, that’s probably something Randle should pay attention to. He finished the game with 24 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists.
