Referee Bill Kennedy explains controversial Kevin Durant ejection
Kevin Durant’s first game back from injury ended early due to a controversial ejection, and now referee Bill Kennedy is offering an explanation for it.
The former MVP was tossed from Golden State’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday after cursing at official Tre Maddox for a supposed missed foul call in the second quarter. Maddox seemed very quick to kick Durant out, and the call was met with some major disdain from the Oracle Arena crowd.
Kevin Durant straight up ejected for cursing out ref pic.twitter.com/UcaCszvnrq
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) March 30, 2018
After the game, Kennedy, who was the crew chief for Thursday’s contest, offered an official statement about Durant’s ejection.
“Mr. Durant was ejected due to the fact of two technical fouls,” said Kennedy, per ESPN’s Chris Haynes. “The first technical foul was issued for vulgarity.
“After the first technical foul was issued, the official tried to walk away, started to walk away and the vulgarity escalated and then he was assessed a second technical foul for the escalation of the vulgarity, resulting in an ejection,” the statement from Kennedy concluded.
The two techs brought Durant to 14 on the year, which is tied for third in the NBA and is two away from an automatic one-game suspension. The ejection was also the reigning Finals MVP’s fifth of the season, tops in the league.
For what it’s worth, Durant offered his own side of things after the game too.
