J.J. Redick: Flip Saunders told me to ‘shut the f— up’ three times
J.J. Redick was ejected during the final two minutes of the Los Angeles’ Clippers win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night. With the way Redick makes it sound, T-Wolves coach Flip Saunders should have been the one who was given the boot.
Redick told reporters after the game that he got into it with Saunders after a foul call late in the fourth quarter. Flip had apparently made his way onto the court, and he and Redick wound up being given matching technical fouls.
“I think there was a foul on the play, and I was just kind of walking to get to my spot on the free throw line, and Flip was out on the court,” Redick explained, via Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com. “I’m not sure why he was out on the court, but he was yelling and stuff, so I said to the ref, ‘Man, get him off the court.’ And Flip turned to me and said, ‘Man, shut the f— up.’ And he said it like three times, and I just walked to my spot, and I got a double technical for that. So I shouldn’t have kept talking, but all I said to Josh [Tiven] was, ‘I’m going to get my money back,’ and he threw me out for that.
“If I’m going to get thrown out, man, at least let me say some stuff. Flip cusses me out, and I say, ‘I’m going to get my money back,’ and I get thrown out for that? Whatever.”
Most people — including Redick — weren’t even sure what happened between Saunders and the former Duke star. The only thing Redick was sure of is that Flip had no business being on the court.
“To me, if an owner or a coach goes after a player for no reason, there should be some repercussions for that,” he said. “I don’t know why the player would receive a double technical. I didn’t say anything to Flip. I said something to the ref: ‘Get him off the court.’ He shouldn’t have been on the court in the first place.”
We fully expect Redick to bounce back. He has been treated worse than that before — just ask DeMarcus Cousins.