Crossing the Line: When NBA Players Attacked the Officials

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These are times NBA players fought referees.

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Oh, he's gonna get tossed, there it is.

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Scott Foster says goodbye.

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Oh, and there, oh, he threw his mouthpiece and hit him in the back.

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Yeah.

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And first, Carlos Boozer swung for the ref's children.

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Oh, wow.

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He did get him.

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But this next one was disrespectful, because Fred Van Fleet almost poked the ref's eye out.

**Tim Donaghy** (0:22)
Now, Fred Van Fleet was just thrown out of the game.

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Uh-oh. Fred has got to be careful.

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That was a 50K poke right there. But one ref pissed off a 7-foot monster. See, Joel Embiid was ready to commit murder on a ref.

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And now he's been ejected.

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And Embiid is done for the night.

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Boy, Embiid is still going.

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He is animated, to say the least.

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But Marcus Morris wasn't letting anyone stop him from throwing hands, because the stripes tried to hold him back, but instead got tossed.

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A contact underneath the rim with Ananobe and Morris, and some shoving between those two. Ibaka gets into it.
Tempers flaring early here in DC.

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Players use any chance they got to get the revenge. Just ask Isaiah Thomas.

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Thomas...

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What is this?

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Wait.

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Isaiah Thomas just got ejected. Is that what we're seeing, that both get ejected? Oh, Aitesy put his hands on Rod Koga.

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Sometimes, the ref deserve to get hit, because Austin Rivers accidentally hit the ref and was immediately tossed.

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They're just tenacious. They're spates.
Wait a minute. He's been thrown out of the game, and they may have to take Doc with him. And he's liable to get fined if he doesn't get off here quickly.

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Now for Dennis Rodman, any bad whistle could make him go psycho, because he got in some foul trouble and couldn't control his head.

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It looked like he head butted him.

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He just was trying to make his point, and they're trying to grab him, and now he throws his jersey back at the court, very upset.

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Dog, if I was ref in Rodman's games, I'd give him every call just to stay alive. But Paul Pierce punched a ref in the face. But this next one was just nasty. See, Amir Johnson got into a scuffle with the zebra over the ball, and when words weren't enough, he threw his mouthpiece.
Come on bro, over a ball? But look, some refs deserved to get slapped in the face. See, Jeff T was playing back in Indiana, his hometown, so you already know his momma and his sister, they were there to cheer the boy on. That's when referee Tony Brothers took things way too far.

**Jeff Teague** (2:47)
My momma and my auntie was sitting courtside, and you know they had my jersey, you know they cheering every time I came in the game, and he like pulled me to the side, he was like, man, who them hoes?

**SPEAKER_3** (2:56)
Oh hell no.

**Jeff Teague** (2:57)
I lost it. I was like, that's my momma, you, I'm going to start going crazy. And he like kept apologizing, like kept apologizing, like, no, no, no.

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But nobody was as unhinged with the refs like Anthony Edwards, because he's dropped six figures in fines this year alone. But against the Grizzlies, he left the refs' finger.

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A top, lefty smash.

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Oh, Edwards called for a technical foul.

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That is unlike you. That's all of our faces.

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Hand signs weren't cutting it for the Ant Man, but Steph Curry had weapons for the refs. See, in Game 6 of the 2016 Finals, Steph fouled LeBron and almost lost control.

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Deflected rebound.

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And a foul on Curry, and Curry is going to get it with a checker goop.

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He throws his mouthpiece after fouling out of the game.

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And it hit a fan, Mike.

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But he wasn't done with the slobber guard just yet. See, in 2023, he wasn't trying to miss, because an obvious foul called the end of the game made Curry losing.

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Steph Curry has been ejected with 1-14 to go in Golden State leading by 2

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Well, Niberson took his beef with the refs to another level, because against the Detroit Pistons, they had it out for him.

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Against Hunter, he was looking for a foul. The offensive foul was called.