Pistons’ JB Bickerstaff: Ref wanted to make game about refs

The Pistons didn’t lose Thursday night’s game in Dallas only because of the officiating. Coach J.B. Bickerstaff made sure to say that part out loud.

But he also made it very clear he had a serious problem with how the game was called.

After Detroit’s 116-114 overtime loss to the Mavericks, Bickerstaff aired his frustration with the officiating crew, centering his comments on crew chief John Goble without initially saying his name, as relayed by ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.

“So that says to me that the referee is coming into the game not being objective,” Bickerstaff said. “Night by night, this is how our interactions are.”

Bickerstaff pointed to a second-quarter technical foul he received while trying to pull Cade Cunningham away from an official at halftime, as well as Ausar Thompson’s ejection later in the game.

“That’s my job,” Bickerstaff said of the tech. “To get my player away from the referee.”

He also questioned the sequence that led to Thompson’s ejection, saying the official stepped toward Thompson and initiated the contact.

Goble, speaking to pool reporter Christian Clark of The Athletic, said Bickerstaff was assessed a technical for “continuous complaining,” while Thompson was ejected for “aggressively approaching and making contact with an official.”

Bickerstaff wasn’t finished.

“You had one guy who wanted to make the game about the referees,” he said. “That’s not what this should have been.”