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Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff wasn't happy with the officiating during Cleveland's 112-108 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night. Philadelphia shot 42 free throws in the game -- compared with 31 for Cleveland -- and Bickerstaff was particularly unhappy with the amount of calls given to Sixers stars Joel Embiid (20 free throw attempts) and James Harden (12 attempts). 

"We deserved to win that game. That game was taken from us," Bickerstaff said, via Cleveland.com. "We did a great job defensively, making their two best players have a difficult time from the field. But one thing you can't defend is the free throw line. That's absurd. That's absurd. Our guys deserve way better than what they got tonight.

"It was the rhythm of the night. They're great players, right? They understand how to play through the rules, and they know how to manipulate the rules. This is no knock or disrespect on those guys. But the game has to be consistent on both ends of the floor. There's contact on one end, it's a foul. Contact on the other end, it's got to be a foul. Tonight, we were searching for that consistency and I don't think we ever found it."

You can see Bickerstaff's full comments below: 

With the loss, Cleveland slipped further out of the top six spots in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. At this point, it looks like a near certainty that the Cavs will be in the play-in tournament. The loss was also Cleveland's fifth straight to Philadelphia, including all four meetings this season. Perhaps Bickerstaff should blame all of those losses on the officials, too. 

Seriously though, it's pretty embarrassing for an NBA coach to pin an entire loss on foul shooting, especially when his own team shot 31 free throws. Embiid was the most physically dominant player on the floor on Sunday night, as he often is, and the Cavs clearly had no answer for him, outside of hacking him and sending him to the line, time and again. Perhaps if Bickerstaff had come up with a better game plan to limit the MVP candidate, his team wouldn't have been forced to commit so many fouls. 

On top of sounding silly, Bickerstaff will also likely be hit with a fine from the league for criticizing the officials.