On a conference call with reporters Thursday afternoon, Nets head coach Jason Kidd expressed disgust with the officiating in Game 5, specifically the lack of calls for Joe Johnson and on the Nets’ last offensive play of the game.
From Andy Vasquez of the Bergen Record:
Kidd on Joe Johnson's G5: "Joe ended up w/ one free throw, which is kind of mind boggling – if someone shoots 23 times & shoots only 1 FT."
— Andy Vasquez (@andy_vasquez) May 1, 2014
For the record, Joe Johnson was the 47th player in NBA history to shoot 23 more more field goal attempts and end the game with one or fewer free throw attempts, joining luminaries such as Michael Jordan (three times), Kobe Bryant (six times), Al Jefferson (who did it a week earlier than Joe Johnson in the same playoffs) and… Jason Kidd, who did it with the Nets in 2002.
Kidd also called out referee Tom Washington specifically, who was on the baseline on the final Nets play, for not calling a foul on DeMar DeRozan for a shove on Shaun Livingston that knocked Livingston out of bounds:
Kidd on end of G5: "Shaun made a heck of a play to come up w/ rebound & get fouled right in front of Tom Washington, but no call was made."
— Andy Vasquez (@andy_vasquez) May 1, 2014
The Nets lost the game, 115-113, falling behind 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.
Kidd has a history with Washington: as a player for the Nets in 2006, Kidd was fined $20,000 for criticizing an officiating crew that included Tom Washington, specifically calling him out: “You go with the three blind mice, and it’s just sad that Tom screwed up that game for us.”
The league has taken no action against Kidd as of this time. Fines for comments critical of officiating have ranged from $15,000 to $25,000 this season. The only coach fined for referee-related comments this season was former Knicks coach Mike Woodson, who was fined $25,000 for comments made in a radio interview in November.
By the way, for the first few games of the series, Raptors fans complained that the refs were favoring the Nets, as this piece of fan art captured:
