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The NBA announced on Wednesday that Minnesota Timberwolves star guard Anthony Edwards has been fined $40,000 for “repeatedly publicly criticizing” officials after their recent 107-101 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Edwards led the Timberwolves with 27 points in Monday’s win, giving Minnesota sole possession of first place in the Western Conference. Edwards made the comments during an interview with Bally Sports North after the victory Monday at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, where he griped about only getting four free throws during the game when he felt he should’ve gotten more calls.
When a reporter asked about how the Timberwolves won the game, Edwards said: “We had to play through every bump and every grab. I don’t know how we won tonight. Big shout out to my team.” Edwards was seen in the postgame celebration calling the referees out for “cheating” and then said in his postgame interview, “I’m going to take the fine, because the refs did not give us no calls tonight.”
Edwards’ criticisms continued in the locker room following the win, telling ESPN’s Tim MacMahon (without prompting): “The refs was bad tonight. Yeah, they was terrible. We was playing 8-on-5.” Edwards added that he feels like he doesn’t get the same respect as other stars in the NBA. “I haven’t earned [referees’ respect] yet, so it’s OK,” Edwards said. “But I think tonight was bad from the refs. It was terrible. We didn’t get no calls as a team. I got fouled multiple times, and I’m walking up to the ref telling him, ‘Hey, can you watch this?’ They just shaking their head. Yeah. And then soon somebody come down from their team and get bumped, it’s a foul. So I just feel like it wasn’t a fair game tonight from the jump. And so that’s why I’m super happy we won the game.”
Edwards is averaging a career-high 25.9 points, 5.3 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game this season.
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