John Wall fined $15,000 for criticizing officials in Wizards-Bobcats game

Wizards star John Wall has earned a $15,000 fine for criticizing the officials following Wednesday's 98-85 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats, the league announced Thursday.

Wall was angry about non-calls on drives to the basket and was especially upset about a late foul when he was contesting a Kemba Walker three with about five minutes remaining. Walker hit all three shots, plus an additional one due to a Randy Wittman technical foul, to push a three-point lead to seven. The Wizards wouldn't recover.

Via J Michael of CSN Washington:

"I didn't touch him. All he did was scream," Wall said. "The ref gave him calls all night because he was screaming."

[...]

"I was really upset," he said. "I was mad. I always wait until the three-minute mark of the fourth quarter to get a call. Plenty of times I jumped to the basket. I think I should've been to the line plenty more."

Wall did not shoot a free throw until the 4:31 mark of the fourth quarter.

For what it's worth, Ben Swanson of SB Nation's Bobcats blog Rufus on Fire went through the tape and concluded that Wall doesn't have much of a case:

I went back in the tape to see the other three personal fouls Wall was called for. His first foul of the night came with a second left in the first half. Walker got past him and Wall got caught with his hand in the cookie jar reaching in for a steal. He was called for an offensive foul in the third quarter for trying to run through Al Jefferson, who had smartly rotated in time to plant his feet. Wall committed a second offensive foul late in the fourth quarter trying to run through Kemba Walker this time. I found no egregious calls against Wall.

We'll have more on this tomorrow.