Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy insists he has no problem with NBA referees despite claiming LeBron James receives favourable officiating decisions.

Van Gundy’s comments were made in an interview with ESPN’s Lisa Salters at the end of the first quarter in the Pistons’ 106-101 loss to Cleveland in Game 1 on Sunday.

“A couple calls have upset our guys,” Van Gundy told Salters. “They’ve got to understand, LeBron’s LeBron. They’re not going to call offensive fouls on him. He gets to do whatever he wants. They’ve got to understand that.”

Following the game, however, Van Gundy mostly backtracked and refused to blame the officiating for the final result.

“Look, I thought it evened out really well,” Van Gundy said. “But early on, I thought there were two pretty obvious offensive fouls down there on him. But it’s two calls in an entire game after that.

“Look, the refereeing had nothing to do with tonight. They did a good job. It went both ways. I thought they did a really good job. It was decided by the players on the floor, as it should be.”

Cleveland took slightly more free throws in the series opener, attempting 21 compared to Detroit’s 16. They were also whistled for fewer fouls, 18 to 21, while James earned three personal fouls.