SALT LAKE CITY — The first question Rudy Gobert was asked following Thursday’s Utah Jazz win over Houston was whether or not he believed the NBA officials were targeting him. He said he didn’t know but after the week Gobert has had, the question didn’t feel out of place.

Gobert was fined for criticizing officials after Utah's loss on Sunday and then was called for a foul on Thursday’s opening tip. There was contact, yes, but it was a foul call that really no one could remember seeing before. That eventually led to him frustratingly slapping items off the scorer’s table onto the court and getting ejected — less than three minutes into the game.

Emotions run high for players, coaches, even fans during NBA games. So it’s sometimes easy to assume the worst. But Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey tried to bring what he called a “levelheadedness” to the officiating conversation on Friday on the team’s flagship radio station, 1280 The Zone.

The rant and the fine

Gobert thought Donovan Mitchell was pushed on a drive during Utah’s 102-100 loss to the Miami Heat. And Gobert thought that contact was much worse than the collision between him and Dwyane Wade that led the game-winning free throws.

“If you call something one way, you have to call it the other way,” Gobert told reporters following the game. “Once they start doing that, I’m going to have a little more respect. I’m just tired of it. Every game is the same. We’re a small market and we know it. But they got to be more consistent. It’s not even personal, they're doing their job. We all make mistakes. I make mistakes.”

The postgame rant cost him $15,000 — a fine that Jazz coach Quin Snyder offered to pay half of — and while Jazz management may have agreed with the sentiment, they also thought he took it too far.

“It’s OK for Rudy to say that Donovan got pushed on the layup in the Miami game,” Lindsey said on 1280. "And frankly, even though maybe the official didn’t catch it at the time or the league didn't agree, we as management agree with Rudy’s opinion.

“It’s not OK for him to say that we are a small market and that anyone official or the league is out to get us,” Lindsay continued. “We don't want to do that to the league. … We’ll never make excuses that we are small market.”

Out to get him?

No one had seen a foul called on a tip before. Not Gobert. Not Derrick Favors. Not Jae Crowder. Not Lindsey. Not anyone. That’s what made it curious. There’s been contact on tips before, but they usually result in a violation and the ball taken out of bounds. But when Gobert made contact with Clint Capela as the two jumped for the ball on Thursday, Courtney Kirkland whistled Gobert for a foul.

“Only Courtney is going to know his intent,” Lindsey said. “It might be from the purest mindset where he saw contact and he thought it was enough to call a foul. He’ll have to answer that question himself.”

But did Gobert think the refs were out to get him because of his comments?

“I don’t know, to be honest,” Gobert said after the game.

But he does know his reaction after his second foul wasn’t acceptable.

“I talked to Rudy,” Lindsey said on 1280. “He admitted his mistake, he apologized that this can’t happen again and his emotions got the best of him. You can’t wipe stuff of the scorer’s table onto the court.”

Lindsey said there isn’t a belief in the Utah organization that the NBA has a vendetta against Gobert or the Jazz. In fact, that seemed to be the overlying point to his appearance on the radio station. Lindsey credited the league for cleaning up the game and being willing to listen when the Jazz thought there was a trend of their players being poorly officiated.

“We want to understand the rules and emphasis so we can best apply our basketball abilities and strategies toward how the game is called,” he said.

Benefiting from the rules

The Jazz have already been implementing strategies to take advantage of the new rules. And Gobert has been a big benefactor. Gobert is finishing plays with dunks at a historic rate — those clear paths to the basket off slips and pick and rolls can partially be explained by the new emphasis on freedom of movement. He’s not getting grabbed as much than in year’s past and he’s been getting a clean lane to run through.

“You see the slips, the rim rolls, the offensive rebounds,” Lindsey said on 1280. “He and the Anthony Davises of the world who are long and mobile and athletic and who are great finishers, their paths to the rim aren’t being impeded.”

Lindsey also said that Gobert’s safety down low has been increased with the new rules. He isn’t having arms fly into his face or neck as much this season.

“He has to understand that the officials he is criticizing are the same ones are also the ones adjudicating the emphasis of freedom of moment that has been really good for him,” Lindsey said.

Lindsey knows there are numerous different perspectives of the officiating. He has his own, coaches have their own, as do the players and fans.

“I just ask Quin and the coaches and players to respect the game,” Lindsey said. “ … It’s important to bring a levelheadedness to this situation.”

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