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NBA Finals Game 2 ref Tony Brothers heavily criticized by fans, players

TORONTO — Many Toronto Raptors fans and even some NBA players went online to vent about the work of referee Tony Brothers during Game 2 of the Finals on Sunday night.

Following the Raptors' 109-104 loss to the visiting Golden State Warriors, Brothers' Wikipedia page was changed briefly and read "Tony Brothers is a terrible American professional basketball referee, who works in the National Basketball Association and hates the Toronto Raptors team."

Longtime NBA centre Kendrick Perkins also took a shot at the ref, tweeting "@NBA no more Tony Brothers for the finals please! This is ridiculous. Nobody came to the game to watch him!"

Longtime NBA forward Matt Barnes tweeted, "Tony Brothers make sure you ice your whistle at halftime ... let these dudes play no one came to see you!"

Brothers was trending on Twitter in Toronto for much of the Warriors' win, which tied the best-of-seven series up at 1-1.

The Warriors actually ended up with more fouls than the Raptors, committing 26 to Toronto's 22.

However, several key Raptors were in foul trouble for large chunks of the game, including starting point guard Kyle Lowry, who fouled out late in the fourth quarter.

The Canadian Press

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