The first round of the NBA playoffs is officially underway, with a few Game 1 matchups already in the books, including Mikal Bridges and the Brooklyn Nets taking on Joel Embiid’s Philadelphia 76ers.
As expected, Philadelphia made easy work of Brooklyn, with superstars Embiid and James Harden proving too much to handle for Bridges and company.
The Nets had no answer for the battle-tested 76ers, so this playoff series could end sooner rather than later.
The 76ers came away with a convincing 20-point win over the Nets in Game 1, with Brooklyn head coach Jacque Vaughn highly critical of the officiating in the first game of the series, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
Nets coach Jacque Vaughn had a clear message for the officials going into Game 2 after Brooklyn’s loss in Game 1:
“Hopefully they’ll be calling traveling and defensive 3 seconds on the big fella next game. So I look forward to that.”
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) April 15, 2023
The losing coach of any game in the NBA, let alone a playoff game, usually has an axe to grind with the referees in postgame press conferences.
Vaughn wasn’t happy with the way the referees swallowed their whistles when it came to Embiid, and it would be safe to say that the Nets head coach can anticipate a fine from the league for his critical comments.
Sometimes when a coach or player points out something like this in a game, it can draw attention to it from the league and the referees, but it remains to be seen whether that’ll be the case in this situation.
Usually, the player has to be a superstar like Kevin Durant or LeBron James, and the coach has to be highly respected like Gregg Popovich or Steve Kerr.
Only time will tell if changes are made, but a fine is almost certainly coming for Vaughn.
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