Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards has been fined $40,000 for repeatedly criticizing the officiating following a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday, the NBA announced Wednesday.
Edwards figured he would be fined once he started talking to the media on Monday.
"I'm going to take the fine," Edwards said after dropping a team-high 27 points. "The refs did not give us no calls tonight ... I don't know how we won tonight."
Minnesota shot 15 free throws compared to Oklahoma City's 22, which isn't much of a disparity, but Edward's gripe with the officiating seemed more personal to his one-on-one matchup with the Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Minnesota shot 15 free throws compared to Oklahoma City's 22, which isn't much of a disparity, but Edward's gripe with the officiating seemed more personal to his one-on-one matchup with the Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Canadian guard went to the charity stripe for 16 attempts, drilling 15 of them as part of a game-high 37-point performance in the loss. Edwards, in comparison, only shot four free throws, which is below his 6.7 attempts per game on average.
It also isn't the first time Edwards has taken notice of what he feels is somewhat preferential treatment in favour of Hamilton's Gilgeous-Alexander.
"It's hard to with the calls that Shai gets," Edwards said following a loss to the Thunder on Jan. 21. "It's hard to shut him down, you can't touch him… that team is a good team, especially when they get calls like that."
In that contest, Gilgeous-Alexander shot 13 free throws en route to 33 points as Oklahoma City picked up a 102-97 win, but the disparity wasn't as large as Edwards took 10 attempts from the line.
