Cleveland Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome said he was “especially” not happy with NBA official Natalie Sago during a sloppy 133-129 overtime win against the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.
The Cavaliers’ sixth man, who finished with 25 points off the bench, singled out Sago for a “really bad” performance while blasting the officiating in Cleveland.
“I thought the refs were really bad tonight, especially Natalie, she was really bad,” Jerome, 27, said when a reporter asked how Cleveland found a rhythm while the teams combined for 70 free-throw attempts.
“When stuff like that happens, they kind of lose control of the game and you’ve just got to keep your head. First half was ridiculous, third quarter was horrendous.”
The Cavs, the top team in the East, were down 18 with less than two minutes to play in the third quarter and then rallied back to force overtime and secure their 10th straight win.
Sago, who’s in her sixth season as an NBA referee, assessed Jerome a technical foul in the first quarter.
They appeared to exchange words near the team’s bench as Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson observed, but it’s unclear what was said.
Atkinson, who called it a “choppy” game, explained that he would take a closer look at the film.
“I’ll have to go back and look at the film,” he said. “We have great referees in this league. I just thought it wasn’t a great spectacle for the fans or for the media, or for us as coaches. It would just seem like it was constant stoppage. I’ll just leave it at that.”
It was a very whistle-heavy contest.
Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley fouled out, as did Blazers rookie center Donovan Clingan, who picked up six fouls in 11 minutes.
Jerome and forward De’Andre Hunter combined for 57 points in Cleveland’s 50th victory on the season.
Jerome added six assists and had a career-high six steals.
Atkinson also praised Jerome’s grit.
“You expect a dip at some point, but he just keeps going and he just keeps going up,” Atkinson said. “And again, no one would’ve expected we’d be finishing games with him. Probably in the beginning of the year, he was not in the rotation, and now he’s finishing games. We needed his ball handling tonight. We needed his moxie, his grit.”
Jerome is currently averaging 16.1 points on 54 percent shooting in his last 17 games.
The Cavaliers, with a 50-10 mark, play the Bulls (24-37) in Chicago on Tuesday.
