NBA Rewind: Why are coaches so mad at officials?

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Every Monday, we catch you up on the happenings in the NBA. This week, the big story is how upset players and coaches are with referees. We’re seeing several coaches getting ejected from games and incurring fines. Also, the Christmas Day slate is coming up! I wonder if the league regrets any of its preseason selections.

But we start with the extended version of the NBA Stock Report, a Monday staple in The Bounce. That’s our free NBA newsletter that you can sign up for and receive every day in your inbox. Let’s rewind!

NBA Stock Report Extended

📈 San Antonio Spurs (21-7). Technically, the Spurs are on a six-game winning streak, even though we watched them lose a basketball game last week. Why? Because the NBA Cup final does not count for the standings. It’s just an extra game. The Spurs have also won 13 of their last 16, not counting the Cup final. The most impressive part of this stretch is that they’ve done it with so many key players missing time at various points. Victor Wembanyama missed a dozen games. Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle both missed time. Now, they’re all back together, and the results look terrific.

It’s not just that the Spurs beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were on a 16-game win streak and looking nearly unbeatable. This is one of the best defensive teams in the NBA when Wemby is on the floor. The Thunder have received a ton of praise for their defense this season, and rightfully so with them allowing 103.2 points per 100 possessions. Well, the Spurs with Wemby are allowing just 102.3 points per 100 possessions. The gap between the Thunder’s defense and the rest of the league this season is pretty much historic. Unless San Antonio has Wemby on the floor.

📉 Sacramento Kings (7-22). We had a couple of weeks in which the Sacramento Kings didn’t look terrible. They started 3-5 and were mostly healthy on the court. Perhaps they wouldn’t have been able to keep up in the West, but maybe they could make things difficult for opponents. Since then, they have made things quite easy on opposing teams. Some of this is due to the absence of Domantas Sabonis, who has only played in five of the Kings’ last 21 games, but this team is brutally bad, even with Sabonis.

The Kings have lost five of their last six and 17 of their last 21. They’re tied at the bottom of the West. A roster full of scoring options is the second-worst offensive team in the NBA. Some of that is related to Sabonis’ absence, because they run so much offense through him. But Sacramento still has too much scoring talent to be this bad offensively. They just can’t seem to play as a unit. They don’t get to the free-throw line. They don’t get many second-chance opportunities. They don’t make shots or shoot enough 3-pointers. But at least they don’t turn the ball over?

📈 New Orleans Pelicans (7-22). Yes, you’re reading this correctly! The Pelicans are on a heater. After starting 3-22 and looking hopeless despite two good rookies, the Pels have won four straight. They have wins over Portland, Chicago, Houston and Indiana during this stretch. That’s a solid run of victories, especially considering how meek they looked to begin the season. And they aren’t just relying on big performances from a star; the Pelicans are playing team basketball and look legitimately improved.

Trey Murphy III is on fire. Saddiq Bey has been incredible, and he was instrumental in the comeback against the Rockets. Rookies Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears have been excellent. And New Orleans has been bringing Zion Williamson off the bench to manage his minutes better — similar to what the Spurs have done with Wemby’s return. In the win over Indiana, Williamson shone in that role. I doubt any of this is sustainable, but it’s good to see interim head coach James Borrego helping this team become more competitive.

📉 Miami Heat (15-14). Remember that high-powered, fast-paced offense the Heat had earlier this season? That has not so much been the case in recent weeks. Their pace has been significantly slower, decreasing by roughly four possessions per game. Maybe it was unrealistic to expect them to be nine possessions faster than last season. But this drop makes their attack look a lot more regular. We’ve also seen their offensive rating plummet as they’ve gone 1-7 over their last eight games.

During this stretch, the Heat offense has ranked fifth-worst in the league. Their defense has been middle of the road, but they’re not making shots. Their field-goal percentage, 3-point percentage and free-throw percentage are all in the bottom 10 during this scoring drought. Tyler Herro has only played twice, and Norman Powell has gone completely cold. Maybe they won’t be a top-10 offense the rest of the season, but they also shouldn’t be bottom-five in that category.

📈 Portland Trail Blazers (12-16). OK, two of their three straight wins were against Sacramento. So you should probably take this upswing with a grain of salt. But the Blazers have looked better this past week. Not just because of the wins, but because of consistent scoring efforts from Deni Avdija, Shaedon Sharpe and Jerami Grant. The Blazers have struggled with creating consistent offense during portions of this season while missing key players due to injury.

In recent games, though, Avdija, Sharpe and Grant have provided the point-of-attack presence needed on offense. They’re getting downhill toward the basket. They’re making good decisions. And we’re seeing the rest of the team follow their lead. Sharpe’s play has been the most impressive, and it’s a reminder of how tantalizing his talent and athleticism can be. We’re still waiting for the season debut of Scoot Henderson, and we’re waiting for Jrue Holiday to return. They’ll need those guys in the mix soon, because they can’t just keep playing Sacramento.

📉 Golden State Warriors (14-15). The Warriors struggle so much in close games. Five of their last nine losses have been by five or fewer points. The Warriors’ defense in clutch situations is abysmal — only four teams are worse. That shouldn’t be the case for a team with Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler. They’re 6-10 in clutch games this season. As of late, the Warriors just can’t find any gear that would approach contending status. They’re actually struggling to find a gear that you could see driving them into the top six in the West.

The Joe Lacob email situation seemed fitting for this franchise. The fan was asking the right questions. Why is Butler forced to play out of position? Why does it take more than Steph Curry scoring 40-plus to win games? And we’re still wondering if Jonathan Kuminga can ever convince Steve Kerr to keep him on the floor. This team is mediocre. They’re nowhere near what we saw after the Warriors traded for Butler last season. In fact, Golden State looks exactly like the team it was a year ago before the Butler trade. I’m not sure the Warriors will be able to pull off a similarly impactful deal before this season’s trade deadline.

📈 Chicago Bulls (13-15). Chicago completely fell off after its red-hot start by losing seven straight games. But in the past two weeks, the Bulls appear to be back. They’ve won four of their last five, including two wins over Cleveland and one in Atlanta. The funny thing is, their defense during these five games has been absolutely nonexistent. They can’t stop anybody. But their offense is also the best in the NBA over the last two weeks. I actually scrolled past them all the way to the bottom before I noticed they were at the top for these two weeks. They’re on fire everywhere they try to score, and they’re not turning the ball over.

📉 Atlanta Hawks (15-15). The Hawks have lost seven of their last nine, but the more concerning thing is that they haven’t looked better in the two games Trae Young has been back for. Young has looked fine, but they also haven’t struggled to defend Charlotte and Chicago in his two games. Things were already slipping away from Atlanta in the two weeks before Young returned, but they had shown some inspired play before without their franchise point guard.

The Big Story: Coaches are frustrated

What is going on with referees recently? Right in the middle of the holiday season, when people are supposed to be their cheeriest, we’ve seen NBA folks get extra frustrated with not just the calls themselves. Players and especially coaches seem particularly frustrated with the interactions they’re having with referees. Granted, refs usually are coming at this from a calmer perspective, as players and coaches react to calls they don’t agree with in the moment. At the same time, that’s part of the interaction ecosystem the referees know they’ll be facing throughout every NBA game. And there’s an expected level of eruption within reason in the blink of an eye. Then you should be able to discuss what’s going on.

In the last week, the NBA has fined Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka, Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch and Denver Nuggets coach David Adelman. Finch and Adelman were both ejected, and each received a $35,000 fine for directing inappropriate language at an official and failing to leave the court in a timely manner. Udoka was fined $25,000 for criticizing officials following the Rockets’ loss to the Nuggets on Tuesday. Following the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss to the LA Clippers on Saturday, JJ Redick expressed frustration with the officials.

“The consistency needs to be addressed; that needs to be addressed, and it will be,” Redick said. “I think any coach, any player — what we ask for is consistency. That’s not to single any official out or any crew out. It’s not about that. We need to know what it is night to night. … And this is where I get frustrated a little bit, and I keep asking the league to please reach out to me and respond every time I do the coach’s feedback thing. I don’t get any response from the league. Nobody ever reaches out to me.”

Adelman’s ejection was the first of his career; he took over as head coach in Denver with three games to go last season. His comments about the ejection were kind of funny.

“Honestly, I was confused,” he said. “I was just looking for answers, and I went out there to find them, and it turns out I had to leave. Sometimes, confusion can lead to destructive things, right?”

Getting fined $35k for a first-time ejection seemed a little pricey, but maybe the NBA is trying to send a message about how players and coaches yell at the refs. I’m not sure the league office has a great case there, but at the same time, the league would have to acknowledge that communication between both sides has been poor.

Udoka has been around the block with techs and ejections before, so he knew what he was doing when he delivered this assessment of the officiating crew after the Rockets’ overtime loss to the Nuggets last Monday:

“Two have no business being out there, and the crew chief was acting starstruck,” Udoka said. “We were seeing all kinds of inconsistent calls, and I’m sure we should’ve got a few more techs.”

Finch’s ejection happened just five minutes and 41 seconds into the game against OKC. That’s absurd!

I wouldn’t say it feels like officiating is any worse now than normal. There are a ton of inconsistencies with officiating, but that’s typically the case. The concerning thing for the league should be how short-fused refs seem to be lately. There has to be more discussion allowed, especially when the goal is for the product on the floor to be as good as possible. Players and coaches want to know why certain calls go against them, even if they tend to get a little histrionic in the way they go about asking for clarification. None of this should be about the refs. It’s about the players. Hopefully, the league can foster an environment where communications between officials on one side and coaches and players on the other can be less contentious. And we can enjoy the product even more.

The Week Ahead: Here comes Christmas Day

‘Tis the season! On Thursday, one of the premier days of the NBA calendar arrives with the Christmas Day games, when the league puts together a showcase of important teams and players. Of course, that’s hard to project in August when the schedule is announced. And the NBA doesn’t have a flex schedule on Christmas that allows the league to swap teams out if they’re underperforming or riddled with injuries to key players.

Let’s revisit whether the league made the right decisions on this year’s Christmas matchups. All games are on ABC and ESPN, and all times listed are ET.

Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks, Noon: This was a pretty safe matchup going into the season. The Cavs and Knicks were expected to be the top two teams in the East. New York has held up its part, even winning the NBA Cup to add to its 2025-26 resume. But Cleveland has been a disaster compared to last season. This should be a high-scoring offensive showdown, but the Cavs are struggling to make shots. Hopefully, we get a great duel between Jalen Brunson and Donovan Mitchell.

Regret Score: 5/10. You’re still getting Mitchell at MSG, and I’m sure the Cavs will eventually break out of this funk. Maybe that happens on Christmas Day.

San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder, 2:30 p.m.: Scheduling Wembanyama and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Christmas Day was a no-brainer. Putting Wemby against his pseudo-rival Chet Holmgren was a no-brainer. But putting this Thunder squad up against a young Spurs team hoping to establish itself was a bit of a risk. Mostly because the Thunder demolish most opponents, and it was unclear back in August how good the Spurs would be. Well, the Spurs have the second-best record in the West and they just eliminated the Thunder from the NBA Cup in spectacular fashion. San Antonio and OKC also face each other on Tuesday night, so there’s a chance these teams are sick of each other by Thursday.

Regret Score: 0/10. After what happened in Vegas, this is a perfect Christmas Day game.

Dallas Mavericks at Golden State Warriors, 5 p.m.: Maybe the NBA was hoping the Mavs would be healthy, Kyrie Irving would be back and Cooper Flagg would be rolling in his rookie season. That’s a fun thing to throw at a Warriors team that was coming off a great finish to last season. Instead, we are getting two struggling teams. Dallas isn’t healthy, but Flagg is in a groove right now. Let’s just hope he makes a bunch of plays and Curry goes for 40-plus.

Regret Score: 4/10. You just can’t trust either team to play well consistently.

Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Lakers, 8 p.m. ET: The only thing that would ruin this is if Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves aren’t able to play. In this scenario, I’m assuming LeBron James would still suit up. The Lakers are a bit banged up, but they’re almost always safe to throw into the mix. The Rockets have Kevin Durant to legitimize their Q Rating, adding even more to how fun and awesome the Rockets have been.

Regret Score: 1/10. Only injuries could mess this up.

Minnesota Timberwolves at Denver Nuggets, 10:30 p.m. ET: This is a great matchup and has been for the past few years. From the Nuggets just batting the Wolves away like they were a mosquito to the Wolves finally solving Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets in the playoffs to a now reloaded Denver going against a Minnesota team that’s learning how to maximize Anthony Edwards. These two teams don’t like each other, and we’ll hopefully get some spirited vitriol to finish the family holiday.

Regret Score: 2/10. Denver not being fully healthy hurts a little, but this is a great rivalry.

This news was originally published on this post .

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