This bounce did not go Kevin Huerter’s way and ended his night prematurely.
The Bulls veteran received one of the most polarizing ejections of the NBA season after he swatted the ball and unintentionally hit a referee on Friday night.
Huerter thus received the boot in the third quarter of Chicago’s 143-107 home loss to the Heat, and he and Bulls coach Billy Donovan both reacted in disbelief.
“I didn’t get much explanation,” Huerter said. “I apologized to the ref … it wasn’t malicious, it wasn’t intended to be aggressive toward her. I don’t know the rule, so now I’m aware.”
Huerter potentially violated Rule 12, Section 5 of the NBA rulebook that states technical fouls can be called for “physically contacting an official” or “overt actions indicating resentment to a call or no-call.”
The surprising scene unfolded with the Bulls trailing, 78-57, with 8:18 remaining in the third quarter when referee Che Flores called a foul on Huerter while he guarded Pelle Larsson.
Huerter, 27, admitted being frustrated with the call, and he smacked the ball.
Unfortunately for the former Maryland star, the ball hit Flores in the legs while she had her back turned.
A referee blew a whistle, Huerter held out his hands in disbelief and official Tony Brothers walked toward him, giving him a technical foul and ejecting the guard.
Brothers then approached Donovan, who was confused by the situation, to explain that he would review the ejection. The call stood after watching the tape.
“He just felt like his intention was to smack the ball at the official,” Donovan said. “When he ejected him to begin with, he came over to me and said, ‘I want to make sure because obviously I’m taking a player off the floor. I’m going to go review it.’ I didn’t see the review he did, I have to trust the official that he’s looking at the review and going off the review. I appreciate him at least doing that but he said the intent was to hit the ball at the ref. … You have to trust the official if they’re going to review it.”
The ejection stood and Huerter’s night ended after playing just 10 minutes and scoring three points.
Said Huerter: “I apologize if that was too much, obviously it was and we try to move on.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
