Earns technical foul for stunt
Delonte West of the Dallas Mavericks earned a most bizarre technical foul on Monday during a game against the Utah Jazz.
During the second quarter, Delonte West and Utah guard Gordon Wayward got tangled up on the Jazz’s defensive end, resulting in a foul on West. As Hayward walked away, West followed him, stuck his finger in his ear, and pushed him.
Refs initially missed the whole thing, but looked back to the tape after the crowd was chanting “Throw him out.” West was called for a technical foul.
After the triple-overtime loss, Delonte West joked that he was trying to remove lint from Hayward’s hair. “I went over the line. I saw some lint in his hair, and I wanted to get it out for him. Seriously, we’re two warriors, man; we’re out there battling,” West said. “I forgot, the NBA is a gentleman’s game, so we’ve got to fight and scrap and do it nicely. Everything is left on the court, though. That’s what it is.”
Hayward, however, was not amused. “I wanted to fight right there, but you can’t do that. It wouldn’t have been the smart idea,” Hayward said. “I’d risk getting a technical foul, getting suspended for the season, whatever. There’s more important things than fighting someone out on the court. The more important thing was getting the win and we were able to do that.”
