Minnesota Timberwolves center Naz Reid won the battle but lost some money.
The former Sixth Man of the Year was fined $50,000 by the NBA on Friday for “questioning the integrity of game officials” over a call in the T-wolves’ unprecedented win over the Houston Rockets earlier this week.
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The incident in question occurred early in overtime, when Reid was called for a charge after driving into Rockets center Alperen Şengün. Minnesota challenged the call and appeared to have a good case, as Şengün’s feet were definitely mobile at the time of contact.
Crew chief Scott Foster thought otherwise. After review, he said Şengün had established legal guarding position and the call stood. Reid, visibly confused, said something to Foster — lip-readers interpreted it as “he was moving” — and was immediately ejected from the game.
The ejection left the Timberwolves down five rotation players, as Anthony Edwards and Ayo Dosunmu missed the game with injuries, Jayden McDaniels left in the fourth quarter with a knee injury and Rudy Gobert fouled out at the end of regulation. Despite then falling behind 13 points in overtime, Minnesota still rallied to win the wildest game of its season.
Naz Reid had some notes for Scott Foster in overtime of Rockets-Timberwolves.
(David Berding via Getty Images)
The Timberwolves were not interested in burying that hatchet after the game, as one of them could be heard yelling, “That s*** didn’t work, Scott Foster” in the back tunnels.
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Foster stood by the calls while speaking with a pool reporter after the game, insisting that Şengün “beat [Reid] to the spot, prior to his upward shooting motion” and gained legal guarding position.
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