NBA fines Pelicans' Alvin Gentry $15,000 for public criticism of refs

New Orleans Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry's heated rant against the referees Saturday night will cost him $15,000.

The NBA announced its fine against Gentry on Sunday for public criticism of the officiating following the Pelicans' 107-101 home defeat to the? Houston Rockets.

Among Gentry's complaints was a foul that was called against Pelicans point guard Jrue Holiday while James Harden was shooting a 3 from the corner midway through the fourth quarter. The controversial call sent the arena into a frenzy and eventually earned Gentry a technical foul for arguing.

"The thing that bothers me more than anything, and I really don't care, we try to play the right way, and we play our asses off," Gentry said.

"All we want is an equal opportunity to win the game, not have a situation where we are guessing on the biggest play of the game, where they call a 3-point foul from the corner. All of you take a look at the play, and if you think that's a foul, if anybody out here thinks it's a foul, then you tell me, and I'll shut up, and I won't say one more thing. You take a look at the play and tell me what you think when a guy comes up and winks and says, I got him."

Gentry went on to complain about his star player, Anthony Davis, not getting the same type of calls as other stars in the league.

"What happens to us is that AD?never gets a call. He never gets a call," Gentry said. "We talk about them holding him, we talk about them grabbing him on rolls, and we talk about them coming under him on post-ups. He never gets a call. Not one. You know why? Because he doesn't bitch and complain about it. He just keeps playing the game. So then it comes down to just a few plays in the game, you can't guess on plays when you got teams playing for playoff spots. You can't guess on a foul. That's not right. That's not the way you do it. We are fighting our asses off for a playoff spot."

"When you get technical fouls called when you walk away from a guy, that's not right," Gentry said. "I walked away from him so I wouldn't get a technical foul."