NBA fines Clippers’ Rivers $25K

Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers has been fined $25,000 for public criticism of the officiating, the NBA announced Thursday.

Rivers made his comments in the postgame press conference following the Clippers’ 105-104 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night. The Thunder took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference series.

The league announced Wednesday that the referees did not have clear and conducive evidence after viewing replay to overturn the out-of-bounds ruling that went in favor of the Thunder.

The Clippers protested that Thunder guard Reggie Jackson knocked the ball out of bounds with 11.3 seconds left. The officials awarded the ball to Oklahoma City and then stuck with their initial ruling after reviewing replay.

Rivers protested the pivotal call to no avail.

“It was our ball,” Rivers said after the game. “Everybody knows it was our ball. The bottom line is they thought it was a foul and they made up for it. In my opinion, let’s take away the replay system. Because that’s our ball, we win the game. We got robbed because of that call.”