The bump of an official turned out to be more costly than an ejection.
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer was fined $25,000 by the NBA for making “incidental” contact with a game official Ben Taylor during Saturday’s loss to the Cavaliers, the league announced Monday. The fine was followed by a statement from the officials union stating that Budenholzer should have been suspended for his actions.
Late Monday night, the Hawks issued the following statement from Budenholzer: “With the league’s permission, I have reached out to and apologized to Ben Taylor for what happened in the game versus Cleveland. Ben is an excellent young referee who is a valuable member of the NBA family. We all understand that any contact - including incidental contact - with an official is unacceptable. I accept the NBA’s fine and look forward to putting this situation in the past.”
Budenholzer was assessed a technical foul and ejected with 6:27 remaining in the 109-97 loss. Budenholzer argued with Taylor after Justin Holiday was hit across the face attempting a layup, ruled a block by Richard Jefferson, and was slow to come up court. Taylor quickly gave Budenholzer a technical foul and immediately ejected him.
Following the game, Budenholzer said he received no explanation for why he was ejected. He did acknowledge there was some contact made, evidenced by a video replay.
“I was very close to him,” Budenholzer said after the game. “That seems like that could be the reason why he threw me out after just a single technical. If there was any contact it would be totally unintentional. If there is contact, I’m sure that’s why he made the judgment call that he did.”
The fine was announced by Kiki VanDeWeghe, the NBA’s Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations.
The National Basketball Referees Association said in its statement Monday that contact with an official should not be tolerated.
“Referees operate in an environment in which an influential NBA team owner has repeatedly mocked the efficacy of fines as means to change bad behavior,” NBRA General Counsel Lee Seham said in the statement. “Recent league precedent dictated that a coach who aggressively charged onto the floor during live action and physically interfered with a Referee would be suspended. We are now operating at a lower level with less transparency, degraded safety, and diminished respect for the game. Coaches should compete by creating better teams, not by physically intimidating officials.”
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