Clippers coach Doc Rivers fined $25K for criticizing refs

SAN ANTONIO -- Los Angeles Clipperscoach Doc Rivers has been fined $25,000 for his public criticism of officiating after the Clippers' 111-107 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday.

"It was a good call," Rivers said when asked about the fine on Wednesday after arriving in San Antonio. "It was. It was a great call. I just felt like it needed to be said so I'll take it."

The Spurslead the series 3-2 after Tuesday's win.

"I don't complain much," Rivers said after the game. "I thought we got some really tough calls tonight, some brutal calls. The travel on Blake [Griffin], the goal-tend on Matt [Barnes], which wasn't a goal-tend; you think about the playoffs and they're single-possession games. Those possessions, those were crucial. J.J. [Redick]'s foul that got him out, J.J. didn't touch anyone. It's not why we lost, but those were big plays for us."

The Clippers were called for 27 fouls compared to 32 for the Spurs, but during the third quarter the Spurs shot more free throws (18) than the Clippers (17) as the Spurs intentionally fouled DeAndre Jordan,sending him to the line 10 times. The Clippers missed 16 free throws while the Spurs missed just nine.

"I don't know, it's just -- listen, the refs are trying hard, too, but God darn," Rivers said. "Even [Chris Paul]'s tech, I still don't have the explanation for that, and I want to find that out because when they make a shot, you have to throw it to the ref to get the ball back, and he got a tech for it. I'm just not sure of some things."

Clippers players weren't as interested in talking about the officials after the game, with some saying they would rather not get fined. But they were clearly upset by some calls made by the crew of Scott Foster, Bill Kennedy and Josh Tiven.

"I've got a team in there that played their heart out, and they're frustrated a little bit," Rivers said. "They're frustrated at themselves, because at the end of the day it's always our fault. But they're frustrated at other stuff, too, and in a game like that with that magnitude, there should be no frustration that way at all."

While Rivers was frustrated with the officiating, he believes the referees got the offensive goaltending call right at the end of the game when Jordan's tip-in off a Griffin miss appeared to give the Clippers the lead with 4.9 seconds left.

"I thought it was the right call," Rivers said. "I couldn't tell, you know, and I didn't see it. I couldn't see the video, so I don't know, but I thought it was the right call. I hope to God it was the right call. You have people in Newark looking at it, so you're hoping that somebody saw it. You've got to put your trust in them."