Video: Denver's Will Barton commits the most hilarious technical foul, veteran NBA ref comes out as gay
The Denver Nuggets were certainly determined not to let the sputtering-back-to-life Houston Rockets outplay them at home, and their determination carried them ove the line. Despite scoring 24 points, the Rockets’ James Harden coudn’t do it for his team.
Nuggets Guard Will Barton was the star for his team, nearly collecting a double-double with 23 points and 9 rebounds, not to mention 3 assists and 3 steals. The twenty-four-year old stuffed some filthy slams en route to his team’s 114-108 win over the Rockets.
But that wasn’t the only talking point of his time on the court. Halfway through the fourth quarter, Denver’s Randy Foye collected a Houston turnover and broke away to the post, with Barton in tow. After Barton put it in following the feed from Foye, the former would proceed to pick up Rockets forward Trevor Ariza’s shoe that had slipped off and throw it off the court.
Ariza, an eleven-year veteran of the NBA, wasn’t about to let the off-handed action pass, and would confront Barton. The situtation would diffuse, but not before Will Barton was called for committing what has to be one of the funniest (and juvenile) technical fouls in memory. Watch here:
VETERAN NBA REFEREE ANNOUNCES THAT HE IS GAY AFTER RAJON RONDO SLUR
Rajon Rondo’s hotheadedness isn’t anything new, but he may just have crossed a line during a game against his former side, the Boston Celtics. The Kings’ Point Guard was called for a technical foul after which he proceeded to argue with veteran NBA referee Bill Kennedy.
This prompted a second technical foul, which made Rondo blow his top and proceed to spew a profane anti-gay slur. Rondo was suspended for one game without pay on account of “directing a derogatory and offensive term toward a game official and not leaving the court in a timely manner upon his ejection”.
Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive issued an official statement on Monday, saying, “On behalf of the team, I apologize to Bill Kennedy for any harm this may have caused.”, according to ESPN.
49-year-old Kennedy, a veteran who has officiated in more than 1100 NBA games, inlcuding 68 Playoff games and 5 Finals games, made this statement to Yahoo Sports: ”I am proud to be an NBA referee and I am proud to be a gay man. I am following in the footsteps of others who have self-identified in the hopes that will send a message to young men and women in sports that you must allow no one to make you feel ashamed of who you are.”
Here’s a video that summarizes the incident: