Last night’s Eastern Conference Finals game between the Celtics and the Magic got a little chippy; but that is to be expected in an important playoff game. We were surprised, however, to see a spat instigated by one of the men who usually break up such confrontations.
Video: NBA Referee Joe Derosa Loses Composure, Wins Confrontation With Fan
H/T: NBA Fanhouse
The NBA will be looking into the incident today, but we’d expect some type of punishment to be levied against Joe Derosa, apparently one of the world’s most sensitive officials.
Needless to say this isn’t what usually happens at the end of the first half of an NBA game. Usually, the crew chief hands the ball to someone at the scorer’s table, so that he and the other refs may retreat to the locker room to decide when in the second half they will call a technical on Rasheed Wallace, if they haven’t done so already.
The man who was eventually escorted from the premises is Franz Henning, the CEO of Wyndham Vacation Ownership. Henning is also a friend of Celtics’ coach, Doc Rivers.
“I didn’t see it. Unfortunately I know the fan,” Rivers told the Sentinel. “But I didn’t see it. I didn’t know any of it had happened until I came back out. My Orlando buddies were telling me what happened. So I can’t have a comment on it because I never saw it. But Joe’s not an emotional guy. He’s great in any situation so I don’t know what happened.”
Hm, small world.
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