Timberwolves' Rudy Gobert, Chris Finch fined for criticizing refs

Minnesota Timberwolves center RudyGobert has been fined $25,000 for his recent rant blasting theNBA's officials and how the Wolves are treated compared to otherteams. Meanwhile, Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch has also beenfined $15,000 for his own criticism of the NBA's officiating.

Gobert and Finch made their commentsfollowing the Timberwolves’ 107-100 loss to the Phoenix Suns onMarch 29 at Footprint Center.

"It's not fair. It's really not fair," Gobertsaid after Wednesday's game."Every night. I've been in this league for 10 years and I try toalways give the benefit of the doubt, but it's hard for me to thinkthey're not trying to help [the Suns] win tonight. It's hard for meto think they didn't try to help the Warriors win the other nightor the Sacramento Kings the other night. It's just so obvious. As abasketball player that's been in this league for so long, it'sdisrespectful."

Gobert accused the NBA of trying to ensure that certain starsqualify for the postseason.

"We understand that we're not the biggest of the markets andwe're a team that – I think you want to see KD (Kevin Durant) inthe playoffs, Steph [Curry] in the playoffs, you want to see LeBron[James] in the playoffs. The Timberwolves are not there yet."

"The biggest markets were always top of the (free-throw) list,but it's probably a coincidence," Gobert added sarcastically, witha smile.

Finch held back more than Gobert, but he did criticize thefree-throw discrepancy in Wednesday's game against the Suns andhint that the refs helped Phoenix out after head coach MontyWilliams' recent remarks about how the Suns were being officiated(which led to a $20,000 fine of his own).

“It works because tonight they went to the line 27times and we went to the line 12 times. Sitting up here and talkingabout it or whatever must have worked for them,” Finch said after the loss to theSuns.“Because this is a team that doesn’t historically drawfouls at the rate they did.”

The Timberwolves have reportedly been frustrated about howthey've been officiated for much of the season and it just happenedto come to a head on Wednesday.