Perth Wildcats head coach John Rillie has questioned the consistency of the NBL’s officiating after Wednesday night’s 105–104 loss to the Sydney Kings, leaving his side facing a must-win game on Saturday to stay alive in the championship race.
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Rillie was fuming post-match, taking aim at what he described as inconsistent standards and differing treatment of star players.
“Where there’s a level of disappointment is we’ve all watched the playoffs, right?” Rillie said.
“Each game gets reffed a little differently. I tried to reach out to the league on Monday and couldn’t get a return call.
Kings down Wildcats in a thriller | 01:11
“(I’m) trying to be professional here, right? In terms of questioning. I wanted to understand – and I kid you not – they called JLA for a hooking foul. If that’s a foul, there has to be that consistency throughout the game.
“And that wasn’t there. All I want to know is how are we going to be officiated?”
Rillie then compared the foul count between Kings star Davis and his own standout Doolittle.
“So I understand and I know we put pressure on referees,” he said.
“But Kendric – how many fouls did he draw? Thirteen, 12, something like that.
“How many for Doolittle? Five.”
The final possession proved contentious, with Wildcats players seeking contact in an attempt to draw a foul. Asked about that moment, Rillie offered a measured response.
“I haven’t looked at it yet, so we’ll see where the verticality was on that.”
Pressed further about his call to league headquarters regarding officiating, Rillie quickly shut it down.
“I’m moving on. Let’s move on from there.”
Despite the loss, Perth can take confidence from the performance after suffering heavy defeats in all three meetings with the Kings during the regular season.
With Game 2 shifting to Perth, the Wildcats will look to respond on home court and force a decider back in Sydney.