Veteran NBA referee Tony Brothers furiously confronted Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch twice during their loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night.
With around 5:12 remaining in the Timberwolves' thrilling 115-108 Game 3 loss to Victor Wembanyama's Spurs, Finch desperately tried to call a timeout. But Brothers, who was stood near Finch, didn't permit the timeout until three seconds later when there was around 5:09 left on the clock.
A furious Finch stormed onto the court in anger at the loss of critical time and later revealed what he said to the official. 'I [told him] "I want my three seconds back",' Finch said. 'He clearly heard me [call a timeout]. He looked my way, ignored me, went on with the play. Almost cost us a turnover.'
Finch's furious reaction didn't go down well with Brothers, who walked toward the Timberwolves' huddle to vent his frustrations. Minnesota star Naz Reid managed to step in between them and briefly halted the dispute. But Finch then strolled back over to Brothers to confront the referee again a few moments later. He told reporters afterwards his intention was to ask Brothers where the ball would be inbounded. But, still fuming, Brothers walked back to confront Finch and the two exchanged more unpleasantries.
'He lost it,' Finch said. On the second occasion, Timberwolves guard Bones Hyland and assistant coach Pablo Prigioni managed to break things up.
Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards, who was stood next to Finch during the heated confrontation, said: 'Competition at the highest level. We wanna win. Finchy wanna win. Tony Brothers is Tony Brothers. We all love him.'
It came just a day after Lakers coach JJ Redick criticized the way LeBron James is officiated and guard Austin Reaves complained about treatment from the referees after Los Angeles lost 125-107 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night. A number of Lakers players gathered around the referees at midcourt after the game and Reaves voiced his frustration to crew chief John Goble. He felt that while players were jockeying for position during a jump ball during the game, Goble crossed the line.
'At the end of the day, we're grown men and I just didn't feel like he needed to yell in my face like that,' Reaves said. 'I told him that. I wasn't disrespectful. I told him if I did that to him first, I would've gotten a tech. I feel like the only reason I didn't get a tech was because he knew he was in the wrong. I felt disrespected.'
