Zoran Dragic didn’t hide his dissatisfaction with the officiating after the quarterfinals of the FIBA World Cup, where Canada defeated Slovenia 100-89.
Slovenia failed to achieve a historic placement and reach the World Cup semifinals for the first time. Although the game was evenly matched at halftime, Slovenia couldn’t keep up with the Canadians in the second half. After the match, Zoran Dragic commented on the refereeing to “B92” and didn’t conceal his frustration.
“I don’t know where they find referees like these, I swear. Despite everything, we could have played better. As I said, we weren’t good in the third quarter. We played at a high level in the first two. We went beyond what the referees did because they are not to blame for everything.”
Dragic also discussed the game between Canada and Serbia and touched on Dillon Brooks.
“The Canada-Serbia game will be interesting. Regarding Brooks, we saw how dirty he can play. Their goal was to provoke, and the referees didn’t react to it today. I don’t understand how, when we went into contact, they called fouls, but when they went into contact, they didn’t.”
Luka Doncic was the most frustrated among the Slovenian players and left the game before it ended.
“Luka was beside himself with frustration. We also need to focus less on the referees, but it’s difficult because they keep hitting you and trying to provoke you. In the end, he got two technical fouls and was ejected from the game,” Dragic said.