Kyle Kuzma tried finding out if he could attract an NBA fine for tweeting at the refs in the wake of the controversy regarding James Harden's monster night and the questionable officiating on the night.
The Houston Rockets star and reigning MVP shot 19 free throws and scored 50 total points in the 126-111 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night and was the subject of criticism from both the opposition and NBA fans.
Harden was accused of conning the officials. And Lakers players, particularly Kuzma, were unhappy with many of the decisions but declined to express their feelings for fear of getting fined. Luke Walton's men were so cautious, there were points in the game when they put their hands behind their backs to defend the MVP and his teammate Chris Paul.
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“He’s a great player,” Lonzo Ball said. “It’s very hard to guard him. You can’t touch him. So, the biggest thing is not to foul him and not to give up easy 3s, but he got hot and that was game.”
Kuzma refused to comment on the issue after the game but was curious over whether or not he could get a fine for having a go at the refs on Twitter after the NBA Referees Association posted a video of a particular play in an attempt to attach merit to the decisions.
"Can we get fined if we tweet back at this account?" the player posted in response.
Walton, meanwhile, blamed the loss on his side's foul trouble.
“It started with fouling,” the head coach said. “Just giving up free throws. Those are easy points for (Harden). He’s one of the best free-throw shooters in the league. You hit three late, and all of a sudden you feel in a rhythm - not that he wasn’t in a rhythm before, but that was the start of it. And then he hit a couple tough ones. He’s a superstar, he’s gonna hit tough shots. But that whole thing started with us giving him three free throws at the end.”
What This Means
Kuzma's post made for some remarkable trolling but the player might have opened a can of worms with the refs here and will probably need to ensure his play is squeaky clean from here on out.
To date, the NBA hasn't responded to the player's query. But he probably won't pick up a fine for this one.