George Karl Refuses to Play ‘Blame the Refs’ Game

Well, sort of. Not really: “It just seems very frustrating for me to sit here and have to worry about every — like it’s the gamesmanship in the press conference on refereeing,’ Karl said. ‘I just wish it wasn’t. That’s not part of coaching for me…The stat sheet says they defended it better. They blocked more shots. We didn’t get as many paint points. But I’m not sure that’s the case…Phil is so much better at it than I am, so much more philosophical about the whistle and how it changed,’ Karl said. ‘I don’t know. Nene has six fouls. Three or four of them don’t exist. I think Stan Van Gundy says it right: In the postgame, we’re lobbying for the league to help us with the refereeing. This is too good of a series. This is too good of teams competing that we’re sitting here just confused by the whistle.'”