Minnesota came into tonight 1-2 on the season against the San Antonio Spurs, a team that has given them serious trouble in seasons past.
In the final regular season matchup between these two teams, the officiating crew comprised of Ken Mauer, CJ Washington and Tyler Ford decided to step in and steal the spotlight, calling an absurd 53 total fouls throughout the night, 28 of which were charged to Minnesota.
I typically try to avoid inserting referees into the narrative of wins and losses – partly because it’s an incredibly hard job to do right and partly because bad calls often even out in the end – but tonight resulted in a game where both teams could not ignore the missteps carried out by The Powers that Be.