Getty Images Los Angeles Clippers head coach, Doc Rivers with NBA official
Los Angeles Clippers head coach, Doc Rivers was already not a fan of the new NBA coaches challenge rule. After last night’s loss against the Milwaukee Bucks and a horrible foul called by the refs, Doc’s dislike of the rule may have increased.
In a tough game against the Bucks with only 7:18 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, an offensive foul was called against Clippers guard Lou Williams. It was said that Williams threw an elbow at Milwaukee Bucks point guard, Eric Bledsoe’s face. After a replay on the big screen it was obvious that Bledsoe flopped. Infuriated at the call, Rivers contested the ruling.
Here’s the play where Eric Bledsoe leans into Lou Williams’ space, then sells an offensive foul call.
Per ClutchPoints, after reviewing the play, the officials upheld their decision ruling that there was an offensive foul on Lou Williams. Rivers ripped into the officials after the game.
As reported by Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints, Rivers said about the challenge, “That was awful. It was. They should have overturned it. It’s why I hate the rule. Nobody wants to be wrong, let me say that. You have to overturn that. Unless Bledsoe fouled Lou with his face, there was no foul, it was a flop.”
New NBA Coaches Challenge Rule
As reported by NBC Sports, the NBA coaches challenge rule was implemented this season for a one-year trial period. If 2/3 of the league approve of it, the rule will be officially adopted by the NBA. The rules to the challenge include: “Coaches are allowed one challenge per game, and lose it regardless if the challenge is successful or not. Coaches can only challenge called fouls, basket interference, out of bounds calls, and goaltending. Coaches must have a timeout available to use a challenge, and must call the timeout before signaling for the challenge. Timeout must be called immediately after the event in question. If the challenge is successful, the team gets the timeout back. If it is unsuccessful, they lose the timeout.”
According to the NBA, this new challenge rule gives teams more control of the game. As reported by the NBA, head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, Rick Carlisle said “I’ve been a proponent of it for many years, just as an additional layer of security. If a call’s inaccurate for any reason, it’s just an extra chance — particularly if the game’s on the line — to get it right.”
Unlike the NFL, coaches won’t ‘throw a flag’ when they want to contest a play. Coaches simply need to twirl their fingers in the air, as if signaling ‘replay’ and the officials will review the play in question. Per the NBA, coaches need to alert the refs before an opposing player has procession of the ball to shoot free throws, to toss it inbounds, or before a jump ball.
Doc Rivers’ Opinion on the Rule
Clippers’ head coach, Doc Rivers hasn’t been a fan of the new coaches rule since before last night. Per ClutchPoints, Rivers is not in favor of the rule because he thinks it adds too much to the officials’ plate. Rivers also thinks that the new rule may cause games to run a little longer than usual, pointing out that if both coaches make successful challenges at the end of the game, that means two extra timeouts.
Doc Rivers says Patrick Beverley and Lou Williams asked him to throw out the challenge flag in the #Clippers loss to the Nuggets. Said he knew it was a foul, but Pat and Lou bet him that it wasn’t a foul.
Adds that he doesn’t anticipate using the challenge flag often this year.
Per CBS Sports, this season coaches have gone 25 of 70 on all challenge calls. Though this only amounts to 36 percent, some calls are being corrected which is the overarching goal.