CJ McCollum would like Zion Williamson to be more respected

The Pelicans had it bad Saturday night after the Devin Booker show, author of 58 points including 25 in a row to allow the Suns to reverse the trend and win 118-114.

The coach, Willy Green, was the first to step up. Although he recognized the exceptional performance of Devin Booker, he deplored the lack of fairness of the refereeing body in terms of free throws awarded.

Devin Booker in the viewfinder

The Suns have indeed benefited from 35 attempts. The Pelicans? Only 13, a difference that is difficult to justify from his point of view.

“What’s most frustrating to me is that we’re in the top 10 in the NBA in free throw attempts, and in the top 5 in points in the paint. And when I see just one of their guys in front has shot more shots than our entire team, it’s frustrating.”, he lamented. “It’s extremely difficult. We will look into it and review the game. We go into the paint and go to the free throw line, it’s something we do well in general. For some reason tonight it didn’t work out the way we wanted it to.”

Devin Booker alone has indeed shot more free throws (10/15) than all of the Pelicans (10/13). As Willie Green pointed out, New Orleans is known to be a rather aggressive team with an undeniable physical dimension.

The best example of this is Zion Williamson. However, in this match, he only had to appear on the penalty line seven times.

Pressure on referees

For CJ McCollum, it’s indicative of the lack of respect the referees show him, as can be the case for other league superstars, like Devin Booker.

“Booker attacked a lot. He got into painting. But it’s also a suspended shooter. It gives you a bit of an idea of ​​how the game went.”plague the president of the players’ union. “Z puts a lot of pressure near the circle, on defense, consistently. I don’t feel like he inherits the same whistles that you can see for other star players, while he very rarely shoots off the key.

Even if his strong winger is still in the Top 15 of players who present themselves most regularly at throws, Willie Green adds that the extraordinary physique of Zion Williamson, on whom “small” faults do not have the same impact, played ” definitely “ against him on this point. Exactly as was the case for the Shaq or even LeBron.

In any case, this will put the pressure and turn the eyes on the referees of the next game of the Pelicans this evening, since the latter receive the Bucks from a certain Giannis Antetokounmpo, leader of the NBA in the number of free throws attempted this season ( 12.1 average attempts per game).