Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert criticize officiating following loss to 76ers

Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert both blasted the way the Jazz are officiated after losing to the Sixers in OT, saying the Jazz are treated differently as a small market team compared to more glamorous opponents.

"It's f---ing ridiculous." - Donovan Michell.

Source: Tim Bontemps of ESPN

ANALYSIS: Mitchell, who was ejected during the final minutes of Utah's second-straight loss, went on a lengthy rant during the post-game presser. Here is the full transcript:

"First off, you know, give the 76ers credit. They played a hard game. Joel [Embiid] did what he does, and at the end of the day, they're a good team. We competed. But it's tough. It's tough to go out there and see how we fight and compete, and to have a game like that taken from us.

"Now, I'm never ever one to blame a ref, to blame an official -- I can say I could have done more -- but this is getting out of hand. There have been games like this that we've won, there have been games like this that we've lost. But this whole refereeing stuff. ... We're nice, we don't complain, like, we don't get frustrated, we fight through things, and the fact that we continually get ... screwed, in a way, by this. You know?

"We won this game, in my personal opinion. You know? But like I said, I'm going to give them credit. They won. Whatever. Cool. But it's been a consistent thing, and the question is, 'Can we do it? Can we sustain it? Are we for real No. 1? And, yeah the hell we are. And it's getting f---ing ridiculous, that this is what is happening.

"We have a whole second half of the season to go and get ready for, and I'm sick of it, to be honest with you," Mitchell said. "We all are. This is something that just it eats me. It eats at me, man. Y'all know what it is. We all know what it is. But it's really getting out of hand. It's really, really, really getting out of hand. And the league needs to do something about this. I want to see the last two-minute report. I want to see it. But it's getting out of hand."

All-Star big man Rudy Gobert backed Mitchell's comments, saying: "Our guys are not able to get calls everybody else in the f---ing league gets. We know we are the Utah Jazz, and maybe some people don't want to see us go as far as we can go, but it's disappointing.

"Three times in a row, Mike Conley is going to the rim, and they're grabbing him right in front of the officials and there's no calls. And, on the other end, there are calls that are invisible that are being made.

"I think it's disrespectful, to be honest, to the game of basketball and to our team, and hopefully they're going to watch the game when they get home. ... Hopefully they feel ashamed when they watch the game."

The Jazz will head into the All-Star Break with the league's best record at 27-9.