{"id":66830,"date":"2024-03-09T11:41:38","date_gmt":"2024-03-09T16:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=66830"},"modified":"2024-03-09T11:41:38","modified_gmt":"2024-03-09T16:41:38","slug":"minnesota-timberwolves-big-man-sports-betting-influencing-nba-referees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/09\/minnesota-timberwolves-big-man-sports-betting-influencing-nba-referees\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Timberwolves Big Man Suggests Sports Betting Is Influencing NBA Referees Decisions, Expects To Be Fined"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Minnesota Timberwolves center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/goberru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Rudy Gobert<\/strong> <\/a>is not happy with NBA referees and made some absurd and unfounded allegations about the league&#8217;s game officials following the T-Wolves&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/game\/_\/gameId\/401585539\/timberwolves-cavaliers\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">113-104 loss<\/a> to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night. Gobert picked up a technical foul after being called for his sixth foul in the game&#8217;s waning seconds.<\/p>\n<h2>Minnesota Timberwolves Big Man Suggests Sports Betting Is Influencing NBA Referees&#8217; Decisions<\/h2>\n<p>With 27.1 seconds left and Minnesota up 97-96,\u00a0 Timberwolves guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/edwaran01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Anthony Edwards<\/strong> <\/a>missed a 17-foot jumper as the shot clock was winding down as the ball came off the rim, Gobert was whistled for a pushing foul while battling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/allenja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Jarrett Allen<\/strong><\/a> for the rebound by Scott Foster. While the call disqualified Gobert from the game, the Wolves still weren&#8217;t in the penalty so that the Cavs would have inbounded the ball underneath their own basket.<\/p>\n<p>However, following the foul call by Scott Foster, Gobert flashed the money sign with both hands \u2014 like he was Johnny Manziel in the end zone, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/5328211\/2024\/03\/09\/timberwolves-rudy-gobert-referees-betting\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Athletic<\/a>&#8212; indicating that Foster was on the take.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rudy Gobert does money sign at refs, gets technical &amp; causes game to go to OT | NBA on ESPN\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GOevzmkeKOk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>While Fisher didn&#8217;t see the gesture, Natalie Sago did, and she nailed him with a T.\u00a0 Cavs point guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/garlada01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Darius Garland<\/strong> <\/a>subsequently hit the one-shot technical free throw to tie the game, which was the final point of regulation.<\/p>\n<h3>Gobert Continues With The Conspiracy Theory Following Game<\/h3>\n<p>Gobert explained his actions that got him hit with the technical foul and continued his conspiracy theory.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cMy reaction, which I think is truth \u2014 it\u2019s what I truly believe \u2014 even if it\u2019s the truth, it wasn\u2019t the time for me to react that way,\u201d \u201cI should have not done that. I cost my team the game, and obviously, they couldn\u2019t wait to give me a tech. That was bad. That was an immature reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI made some mistakes. I airballed a dunk. Mistakes happen. Referees make mistakes, too. But sometimes I think it\u2019s more than mistakes. I think everyone that\u2019s in this league knows. I think it\u2019s got to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think [sports betting] is hurting our game.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>With Minnesota&#8217;s loss last night, the Timberwolves (44-20) fall one-half game behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for the top spot in the Western Conference. The Wolves, who are without<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/05\/14\/nba-rumors-karl-anthony-towns-new-york-knicks\/\" target=\"_self\"> Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> for the next month, are 6-4 in their last 10 and 1-4 in overtime affairs this season.<\/p>\n<h3>Gobert&#8217;s Comments and Actions Are Ridiculous<\/h3>\n<p>Again, Gobert&#8217;s actions were ridiculous following the foul call, and he absolutely deserved to be hit with the technical. And his comments were even more troubling and unfounded. Of course, Gobert didn&#8217;t offer any proof, just his opinion.<\/p>\n<p>Besides, T-Wolves assistant coach Micah Nori, who took over head coaching duties for an ill Chris Finch last night, had no problem with the officiating.\u00a0 Nori was more unhappy with Gobert than anything.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI thought the game was called pretty much the same way, both ways \u2014 I think both teams were a little bit frustrated, but that\u2019s basketball.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA technical foul with 27 seconds in the game, to be honest, is unacceptable. That\u2019s who Rudy is, but you\u2019ve got to be smart. He made a visual that was automatic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Yes, everyone knows the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/news\/story?id=3509440\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Tim Donaghy story<\/a>. But that was 17 years ago and a solo act. Plus, today&#8217;s NBA officials know the repercussions of something like that for them and the league.<\/p>\n<p>At least he knows a fine is coming, as he said he expects to hear from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. A short suspension may also be deserved.<\/p>\n<p>Here is the thing about Gobert. He is not without controversy himself. He even called himself &#8220;the bad guy&#8221; while talking to reporters after the game.<\/p>\n<p>Gobert has made critical remarks several times throughout his career, including following a Minnesota loss to Phoenix last March.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI\u2019ve been in this league for 10 years and I try to always give the benefit of the doubt, but it\u2019s hard for me to think they\u2019re not trying to help (the\u00a0Suns) win tonight. It\u2019s hard for me to think they didn\u2019t try to help the [Golden State] Warriors\u00a0win the other night or (the)\u00a0Sacramento Kings\u00a0the other night.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Just a note: the Timberwolves defeated the Warriors and Kings in both games Gobert referenced.<\/p>\n<h3>Gobert&#8217;s History<\/h3>\n<p>Gobert is also known for being a nasty player.\u00a0 Gobert has been whistled for 72 technical fouls,\u00a0 ejected five times, and charged with 12 flagrant fouls, including last night when he elbowed Allen in the ribs on a post move.<\/p>\n<p>While Gobert has been suspended just one game by the league, he has racked up over $560,000 in fines (not including the upcoming fine for his postgame comments). He was involved in a fight with the Warriors earlier this year, punched Kyle Anderson during a game last season, and physically contacted an NBA official during\u00a0a game in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Gobert also contacted COVID-19\u00a0 as he<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/nba\/news\/rudy-gobert-touched-every-microphone-at-jazz-media-availability-monday-now-reportedly-has-coronavirus\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> touched all the microphones<\/a> on the podium following a Utah Jazz team shoot around back in 2020 to mock the disease.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert is not happy with NBA referees and made some absurd and unfounded allegations about the league&#8217;s game officials following the T-Wolves&#8217; 113-104 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night. Gobert picked up a technical foul after being called for his sixth foul in the game&#8217;s waning seconds. Minnesota Timberwolves [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3146,"featured_media":66854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[49100,39,213,394],"class_list":["post-66830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-timberwolves","tag-anthony-towns","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-rudy-gobert"],"modified_by":"Daniel Benjamin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}