Beal isn’t interested in predicting when refs will blow their whistles
As soon Bradley Beal heard the magic words, his smile disappeared and he began to shake his head.
In Game 4 of the Toronto Raptors-Washington Wizards firstround National Basketball Association series, Beal fouled out of a playoff game for the first time in his six years as a professional. Although the Wizards went on to win, and Beal was a delight to watch from the sidelines during the final four minutes and 58 seconds, some hard feelings lingered into the following day.
After the Wizards’ Monday practice, Beal listened closely to the beginning of a question. When the topic of “officiating” came up, Beal’s silent expression said everything.
“He doesn’t want to get fined,” joked a team staffer standing nearby the exchange.
Through this physical and often testy series, Beal has collected 14 personal fouls. While his sixth and final foul on Sunday provoked an unexpected rage from the usually calm and collected Beal — the call against him was suspect at best, if you’re a Washington fan — he has battled against the interpretation of what is and what is not a foul through the four games.
In the playoff opener, after an 8-for-17 shooting performance but only one free-throw attempt, Beal evaluated the Raptors defence as a “hold and grab” strategy.
Beal was forced to sit and watch much of Game 2 because of four personal fouls. Beal did not agree with the three times he was called for fouling a shooter in the act of attempting a three-pointer and said so even as the series shifted to Washington.
Then in Game 4, when Beal experienced a career first, he was adamant that he did nothing wrong on the last foul.
For Beal, the series has encouraged him not to predict how the officials’ whistle will blow.
“Every game is different because every ref is different. Every level of play, every level of physicality is different. I never come in with the mindset that every call is going to be the same,” Beal said on Monday. “I expect them to be different.”
Beal did not break down video footage of his six Game 4 fouls. The review would have been pointless, he said.
“At the end of the day, I know if I fouled a guy or not. If I fouled him, I fouled him. I know how to keep myself out of those situations moving forward,” Beal said.
“But if I didn’t foul him and they called me for a foul, I know I didn’t foul him, I’m not going to change anything.”
Even so, teammate John Wall expressed after Game 4 that the Wizards must find a balance between playing aggressively and avoiding fouls.
On Sunday, three Wizards’ starters had three or more fouls. Toronto point guard Kyle Lowry remained on the fringes of the game with four fouls, while the starting frontcourt of Jonas Valanciunas, OG Anunoby and Serge Ibaka totalled nine fouls.
“We got to do a better job of just not getting in foul trouble,” Wall said. “It’s kind of easier said than done but we’re playing so aggressively and playing so hard.
“You’re going after every loose ball and every possession counts. It matters in the playoffs. You [are] kind of put in bad situations. “I feel like the last two calls [Beal] had were the same type of thing. In Game 3, Keef [Markieff Morris] got in foul trouble early but we just got to go out there and play hard.”