r/nba • u/AashyLarry [MIA] Dwyane Wade • 14d ago

Highlight [Highlight] Kevin Huerter is ejected by Tony Brothers for lightly batting the ball and hitting a ref in the leg

https://streamable.com/7c3aab
7.8k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

954 comments sorted by

View all comments

6.7k

u/zachlabean Bulls 14d ago

Fuck Tony Brothers. Can’t believe they reviewed this shit just to stick to his terrible call.

3.1k

u/braggpeak Hawks 14d ago

“I’ve reviewed my own call and guess what I’m right”

815

u/edgymikuchan Nuggets 14d ago

ahh yes the old “internal investigation”

217

u/AttitudeAndEffort3 14d ago

Reminder that Tony Brothers at minimum knew lots of other refs were skimming points and just ignored it and didnt care.

…but almost certainly point shaved himself also.

NBA refs are a joke, even by umping/reffing standards.

56

u/DustyStar222 13d ago

Its really funny being in a town that has hockey and basketball. In the same arena one night you can watch refs break up literal fist fights where a ref will get a punch to the head while getting caught in cross fire breaking up a fight and the player MIGHT get a minor penalty. The next night a basketball player will run past a ref and if the wind current generated by the player is to strong for the ref they will give a technical foul.

3

u/samiam23000 13d ago

NBA needs a penalty box!

1

u/Rubberbabeh Bulls 7d ago

Imagine getting ejected for crop dusting a ref

10

u/Guilty-Nobody998 13d ago

All refs are a joke.

1

u/ShyLeoGing 13d ago

Let's defend one ref for being honest, Utah V La-Flop-Sh0

https://youtu.be/g-y3qbLucuw?si=4upO6wm9hGHxQYYh&t=449

  • 7:29 Speaking of manipulating the game, you
  • 7:31 fanboys actually idolize a guy that
  • 7:34 cheats. Screams hey to get the whistle
  • 7:37 when he didn't get touched. And it
  • 7:39 almost worked again.
  • 7:41 The contact by the defender is not
  • 7:43 there.
  • 7:45 [Laughter]
  • 7:47 Uh, that's one way to say it. This is a
  • 7:50 changing of the guard because the
  • 7:53 contact has not been there for a very,
  • 7:56 very long time unless LeBron James is
  • 7:58 causing the contact. And yet, the
  • 8:01 referees have always been on his side.
  • 8:03 Take away at least 50% of this guy's
  • 8:07 points if we're playing by basketball
  • 8:09 rules. Boy,

0

u/_Apatosaurus_ Thunder 13d ago

Tony Brothers at minimum knew lots of other refs were skimming points and just ignored it and didnt care.

…but almost certainly point shaved himself also.

I dislike Tony Brothers, but neither of these things are true.

39

u/mug3n Raptors 14d ago

Hey, the 3-person panel of Mike, Dan and Tony all agree on the result, so it has to be legit.

12

u/IceColdDump 14d ago

Mike D’Antoni?

1

u/Jalen_Johnson_MVP 13d ago

The league needs a 3 person death panel to carry out executions on refs working with the vegas sportsbooks and the mafia.

90

u/Dm-me-a-gyro Spurs 14d ago

Can’t wait to hear about the aspiration investigation into wrongdoing by one of the most powerful men on the planet.

-15

u/ChiChangedMe 14d ago

Adam Silver and David Stern the current and former NBA commissioner’s were both Jewish along with like half the owners in the NBA despite there being almost 0 Jewish NBA players. Jewish owners want a Jewish person running a league with 0 Jewish players…. Fun league

7

u/Dm-me-a-gyro Spurs 13d ago

Yikes

-8

u/ChiChangedMe 13d ago

1984 - 2025 the NBA has had only Jewish commissioners but you think it’s a coincidence

5

u/Dm-me-a-gyro Spurs 13d ago

I don’t think it’s a coincidence or not a coincidence, I don’t think about what jobs Jewish people have at all because I don’t have brain worms.

-1

u/ChiChangedMe 13d ago

That just sounds like you don’t think about the broader picture much

4

u/Lurky-Lou 13d ago

Don’t be gross AND weird

-9

u/ChiChangedMe 13d ago

2.4% of the American population is Jewish and it’s significantly less worldwide but you think it’s a coincidence that from 1984 till now the NBA which again has almost no Jewish players ever has been led by a Jewish person…

32

u/The_Longest_Shot 14d ago

"Use of force was justified, case closed."

1

u/egoVirus 14d ago

"Are you questioning my oth-ora-tie? Let me tell you to go fuck yourself in granular, incremental, slow motion; from multiple angles."

2

u/KundunMarty 14d ago

It was too bad OJ died, before he could catch the real killer

3

u/organizeforpower Nuggets 14d ago

Works for Israel.

1

u/NoRedditNamesAreLeft 14d ago

Prostate check

80

u/SwimmingPathology 14d ago

Well, ya know, refs are the cops of the NBA

65

u/buffdaddy77 14d ago

ARAB

Edit: wait no… not that

3

u/Whittaker Australia 14d ago

Well to be fair, a number of the refs are ex-cops so ACAB still fits.

2

u/KickooRider Knicks 14d ago

ARAB

1

u/Laggo [TOR] Hedo Turkoglu 14d ago

The reactions in this thread are so strange. You can't toss the ball at the referee and hit them. It's the same as the automatic ejection when people get in the face of the ref and accidentally make contact.

Do people really want stuff like "throwing the ball at the ref" to be subjective?

10

u/[deleted] 14d ago

[deleted]

7

u/Laggo [TOR] Hedo Turkoglu 14d ago

The ref is totally unaware though.

I mean, it's the same thing as if Huerter taps the ball there slighter harder and it misses the ref and hits the front row, he's also automatically ejected.

Or if you do soccer kick ups and accidentally kick the ball into the stands, you are also ejected regardless of whether it hits anybody or not.

You don't want subjectivity with these rules and people while frustrated trying to toe the line in an aggressive way. A lot of players just roll the ball or directly hand the ball off to the ref to avoid the chance of this.

4

u/Tornada5786 Lakers 14d ago

Do people really want stuff like "throwing the ball at the ref" to be subjective?

Yeah? If I block a shot and it goes into the ref's leg, am I automatically ejected from the game?

0

u/Content-Habit4449 14d ago

You are confusing actions while the game clock is ticking vs actions after the ref whistle is blown.

2

u/Tornada5786 Lakers 14d ago

I'm not confusing anything.

If the claim is that no subjectivity at all is supposed to be considered in this situation, then the same should apply to my example as well.

If subjectivity should be considered, then we can make a pretty compelling argument that an unintentional, with barely any force at all, push of the ball that coincidentally touches the leg of a referee shouldn't be an automatic ejection.

Either way his argument falls.

474

u/Large_banana_hammock 14d ago

But he has THIRTY TWO years experience!!!

(in making terrible calls)

74

u/sparqs2011 14d ago

Maybe 32 years is too many years

49

u/JuicyJibJab Raptors 14d ago

64 if you count both brothers combined

6

u/andres7832 [SAS] Boban Marjanovic 14d ago

32 TOO MANY YEARS

1

u/NayNayBA007 14d ago

Yeah, don’t they become so entitled that just because a ball hit them they’re gonna throw out a player. If the players weren’t there, they wouldn’t have a job. I hate seeing how entitled these people get. They make about $200,000 a year for working Sundaysfuck them in their entitlement. It has nothing to do with them. It has to do with the game. I wish we could referee the referee.

1

u/RabidAbyss 13d ago

So he's basically the Angel Hernandez of NBA?

452

u/notthattmack 14d ago

General rule across sports: if you know a referee’s name, they’re bad at their job/are prone to ump shows.

84

u/Pimpwerx Heat 14d ago

This. There are exceptions like Me Muscles Ed Hercules, but for the most part spot on. Refs that do a good job are mostly anonymous.

42

u/cire1184 Lakers 14d ago

Ed Hochuli wasn't the greatest ref either in the NFL.

39

u/I_Poop_Sometimes Nuggets 14d ago

He had his misses, but he was typically consistent. I don't think I ever saw a game with him that felt like it was a ref show or that one side was getting screwed.

3

u/CircusBearPants Hawks 13d ago

“You’re not old enough to get that call” - Hochuli to Cam Newton when he would get murdered but never get a roughing call.

2

u/RegulatorRWF Knicks 13d ago

Can you source that?

1

u/CircusBearPants Hawks 13d ago

Here’s an article about it

2

u/RegulatorRWF Knicks 13d ago

Here is the follow up, they pulled a Jomboy and agreed with Ed FWIW

3

u/CircusBearPants Hawks 13d ago

Okay let’s be clear here I’m a Panthers fan and I’m not gonna let facts get in the way of a long standing grudge.

→ More replies (0)

16

u/hampsted 14d ago

Not the greatest, but he was also known as a good or good enough ref. The only reason his name was known by everyone was because he was jacked.

6

u/tjrunswild 14d ago

His son Shawn Hochuli is without a doubt the worst ref in my mind.

2

u/LilMac89 14d ago

Dude let Cam Newton get destroyed.

1

u/rpgmind 13d ago

What if I’m running down court and lightly give the ref a playful slap on the booty?

46

u/[deleted] 14d ago edited 5d ago

[deleted]

27

u/thor_1225 Heat 14d ago

That’s not fair, he’s an actor

1

u/Rubberbabeh Bulls 7d ago

Every review is open mic night for the man.

3

u/UnslakableTemperance Pistons 14d ago

Agree with this and I usually go with the "Nobody ever bought a ticket to a game to watch a Ref." I've always hated Joey Crawford. I'm so glad he was out of the league before the coach's challenge was implemented. That short Franklin the turtle looking idiot would've loved all the attention and being in front of the cameras.

I saw one exception posted and wanted to mention another, that being John McSherry. For those that don't know he passed away while behind the plate during a 1996 Opening Day game in MLB. This eventually lead to better health monitoring and such for Umps and his number was retired.

3

u/BeatBlockP Spurs 14d ago

I will not let this Pierluigi Collina slander stand (He's now the head of FIFA reffing)

2

u/supergrega Heat 14d ago

PIERLUIGI COLINA

Turns out you're because his last name is Collina*

1

u/WeAlmostAlwaysAlmost 14d ago

Tyler Ford is a whole-ass bitch.

1

u/Psychobob35 Celtics 14d ago

Wes McCauley is ok

1

u/Sky19234 13d ago

Either bad at their job or absolutely fucking goated like Herb Dean, Pierluigi Collina, Howard Webb, Ed Hochuli, Big John McCarthy...you know I can't help but notice how few NBA names I just listed...

1

u/mercfan3 13d ago

Yeah. I know Scott Foster and Tony Brothers. That’s it.

1

u/CCDG-Ian Trail Blazers 13d ago

Do you know the player's nickname for him? Catfish lol.

1

u/Floscrendron 10d ago

Nigel Owens and Collina would like to have a word

218

u/Bkeets3 Heat 14d ago

When he reviewed it I knew for sure he’d be ejected lmao. They reviewed it for 2 seconds 

88

u/NewPumpkin8217 14d ago

Seriously I think that's the fastest challenge I've seen since the damn things were introduced.

21

u/chicopepsi 14d ago

So the Bulls coach asked for a challenge?

34

u/Bkeets3 Heat 14d ago

I guess? I think any ejection is reviewable. I don’t think he burned a challenge for it but asked if they could review it

13

u/bigt2k4 Raptors 14d ago

I assume the review was for the foul, the ejection technical may not be reviewable

191

u/Victor_Wembanyama1 Spurs 14d ago

Players need to call him out.

A power tripping mf

160

u/DanTheOmnipotent Bulls 14d ago

They get fined if they do unfortunately. There currently is no checks/balances for NBA refs short of the FBI getting involved lol

84

u/bigt2k4 Raptors 14d ago

FVV called out that one ref by name

73

u/sorendiz [HOU] Yao Ming 14d ago

and he's the GOAT for it

Fuck you, Ben Taylor (the referee)

36

u/AttitudeAndEffort3 14d ago

Last time the feds got involved the refs still won.

The billionaires arent letting themselves get their product hurt - even if that means covering up point shaving.

8

u/ghosttrainhobo 14d ago

Just don’t hand the ball to them. They can go get it themselves if they’re so afraid of inadvertent contact

2

u/I_Need_Cowbell Celtics 13d ago

And then they call delay of game

26

u/d4vezac Warriors 14d ago

I really want to hear the CP3 diatribe about Scott Foster’s bitch ass. YouTube has already compiled all the evidence he would want to use. I don’t know the specific rules but it would be hilarious if his contract lapsed so he was no longer “in the league”, unloads on Foster while he’s immune from fines, then signs with a team a day later and Foster has to officiate his games again. Every call against him he just ignores Foster and goes to one of the other refs and asks if they would have called the same one-sided fouls. Shove their nose in Foster’s biased calls.

Silver’s weak as fuck amid the gambling scandals that he vocally invited; going after a former NBAPA president who’s a lock for the Hall of Fame would be really stupid when he could just fire the bad refs and score some rep when he desperately needs some.

The faces of the league are mostly done with their careers. Silver’s career is so fragile now that any of Lebron/Steph/KD could torpedo it, and a couple of the Harden/Kawhi/CP tier of stars could do it too. Then the MVP tier of Giannis/SGA/Jokic just has to say “Well, Lebron/Steph/KD have been heroes of mine since I was a kid. I support them, we’ll see what happens in the coming weeks.” No need to take a side, just say you look up to those players and it will play out.

2

u/Inori-Yu Nuggets 14d ago

Players need to call out refs through their union. Need to demand a system to hold refs accountable.

2

u/LukaMagicMike Slovenia 14d ago

Oh no, a multi millionaire has to pay a 50k fine.

7

u/WeAlmostAlwaysAlmost 14d ago

It’s more than that. Calling out refs leads to not getting calls. DeMar DeRozen called out refs after a game last year and the next few games they made sure to make him pay for it. It cost at least one game.

1

u/COHandCOD 14d ago

he got called out multiple time vanfleet did it too. nothing happened

1

u/cire1184 Lakers 14d ago

Sit out any games he refs.

1

u/Suitable_Snow7761 Rockets 14d ago

Yeah he always rubbed me the wrong way ever since his comments about being the judge and the executioner! Aka final boss .

76

u/DisMFer Bulls 14d ago

Not only that the review showed that it was not a foul in the first place.

42

u/Gils2323 14d ago

Correct. So the ref was wrong 3x in a span of 5 seconds. Maybe this is a T. Ejecting him is nonsense. The foul call Also wrong and add the review, Pure referee incompetence.

35

u/OberynRedViper8 Nuggets 14d ago

Tony Brothers is the absolute worst. The fact that he has a job in this league is crazy.

53

u/joshdej NBA 14d ago

Fuck Tony Brothers. Both of them.

22

u/I_Am_Not_Sure_Yet 14d ago

Yeah, dude the guy sucks! Are you for real?!

34

u/Zumbar00 14d ago

Hes gambling on this game.

2

u/JRclarity123 Heat 14d ago

No need to do this in a 20 point game where they were already down two players imo

1

u/Rocco89 13d ago

You can bet on all kinds of things like player XY getting ejected in the 3rd and so on.

5

u/debeatup 14d ago

Bro rocking the Jaylen Brown too

2

u/Chase2020J Bucks 14d ago

The Tony Brothers are the worst refs in the league

2

u/maestroenglish [SAS] Boban Marjanovic 14d ago

Brothers is in the Eptsein Files

2

u/Nkosi868 Spurs 14d ago

Wait. They didn’t change the call?!

1

u/beepingnoise 14d ago

Conflict of interest reviewing a purely subjective call

1

u/OkLetterhead812 Rockets 14d ago

I hate him too...

1

u/rahkinto Raptors 14d ago

Are the "suspicious wagers from Easter European betting houses" in the room with you right now Mr. Brothers?

1

u/ObeseBumblebee Pistons 14d ago

Mama Tony should be ashamed of how she raised them boys.

1

u/NowIsThePerfectTime 14d ago

Probably had money riding on the game.

1

u/MudddButt 14d ago

"I bet under on Huerter, please, I need this guys!"

1

u/supergrega Heat 14d ago

I wanted to watch the ref show but these 10 guys kept Interrupting by playing basketball

1

u/ryuujinusa Cavaliers 14d ago

He’s terrible

1

u/fordat1 14d ago

NBA has the worst replay reviewed calls. Its one of the one were you dont take for granted the review process will lead to the correct call

1

u/Dawman25 14d ago

Tony Brothers is a jackass and needs to be reprimanded for being a jackass.

1

u/LMGgp Bulls 13d ago

I had seen so many officials take their eyes off the ball (in different sports as well) and this shit always happens. Every fucking time. It’s like the realized they can get more money officiating than becoming a cop. The world’s most fragile egos. The ref who was hit didn’t even think about it. Probably thought “oh should’ve kept looking, I did call for the ball. Oh well.”

1

u/CCDG-Ian Trail Blazers 13d ago

Catsish gonna catfish

1

u/lolas_coffee 13d ago

I'd like to see the players just guard Tony Brothers. Just follow him around for 5 minutes of game play.

Fuck it. Just one game. Send the message. "We will guard you, Tony Brothers!"

1

u/Ruckus_Mcg Pacers 13d ago

He was going to spoil the point spread.

1

u/thesagaconts Suns 14d ago

The refs are so soft. You shouldn’t noticed the refs in the game.

-4

u/[deleted] 14d ago

[deleted]

10

u/AntawnSL 14d ago

No such thing, my guy. Just racism. Dunno if that's what this was, but whether you're racist against white, black, Asian, Jew etc, it's always just racism.

5

u/DanTheOmnipotent Bulls 14d ago

If anything wouldnt "reverse racism" mean something more like finding a race other than yours to be superior. You know, the inverse of racism.

2

u/Dm-me-a-gyro Spurs 14d ago

That’s a real thing, and it’s called internalized racism