Memphis Grizzlies head coach David Fizdale fined $30,000 for NBA officiating rant

Memphis Grizzlies head coach David Fizdale was fined $30,000 by the NBA on Wednesday for criticism of the officiating following the Game 2 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

Fizdale ripped the officiating after the Grizzlies' 96-82 loss to the Spurs on Monday night to fall behind 2-0 in the Western Conference first-round best-of-seven playoff series.

Fizdale went on a nearly two-minute rant during his postgame interview and called the work of officials Danny Crawford, Rodney Mott and Bill Spooner "unacceptable" and "unprofessional."

"It was a poorly officiated basketball game," Fizdale said after Monday night's loss. "Zach Randolph, the most rugged guy in the game, has zero free throws but somehow Kawhi Leonard had 19 free throws. I'm not a numbers guy, but that doesn't seem to add up.

"Overall, 35 times we shot the ball in the paint and we had 15 free throws for the game. They shot 18 times in the paint and shot 32 free throws. Kawhi shot more free throws than our whole team -- explain it to me.

"We don't get the respect that these guys deserve, but I'm not going to let them treat us that way. I know Pop's (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich) got pedigree and I'm a young rookie, but they are not going to rook us. That's unacceptable, that's unprofessional. My guys dug in that game and earned the right to be in that game, and (the refs) did not even give us a chance."

The first-year head coach then slammed his fist on a table and stormed off.

The Grizzlies-Spurs series switches to Memphis for Game 3 on Thursday night.