Suns wing Dillon Brooks called for a review of how the fourth quarter against the Atlanta Hawks was officiated on Sunday after Phoenix lost.
“Emotional refs were making calls out of emotion,” Brooks told reporters postgame, saying the Suns were playing “seven against five.”
Hawks wing Zaccharie Risacher went up for a dunk halfway through the fourth quarter and had a scary fall afterwards, and officials blew the whistle as Phoenix was running in transition.
“I understand that guy is hurt, but at the same time, don’t call it dead right away,” Brooks said. “You get the ball out in transition and you’re calling the play dead and then when people call it out, you want to call a T and change another play getting (the Hawks) two extra points when it’s not even their ball.
“So that needs to get reviewed and someone needs to get penalized. (Expletive), I got penalized for calling them out.”
He would’ve rather the refs blown the play dead immediately upon seeing it was a serious injury or let the transition play out and then call it dead.
Phoenix led Atlanta 107-95 with 6:52 left in the game after the ensuing technical free throw, and it went on to drop the game, 124-122.
“Those could be and-ones (against us), but there’s fouls on the other end,” Brooks said of he thought how the call carried over into the rest of the fourth. “We’re getting slapped right there in the middle of the floor, and (all) three refs miss it? (Expletive), we might have to add a fourth ref if that’s going on.
Brooks named referee Justin Van Duyne as the one who called his technical. Van Duyne notably called back-to-back technical fouls on Joe Mazzulla and Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics last December.
“I don’t want to get fined, but refs should be fined for making mistakes like that and then after that you’re holding a grudge the whole game,” Brooks said. “Like, the guy didn’t want to make a call when the guy held me in my face. He’s trying to rush up in there to play and somebody else has to come in there and say review it and then he calls it.
“Like, that’s not it.”