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Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant has had his fair share of difficulties in dealing with contentious decisions made by officials. After all, the referee's whistle plays a huge part in determining the rhythm of the game. And it seems as if, more often than not, Durant has borne the brunt of the officials' ire.
In the second quarter of the Nets' 30-point demolition of the Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant added to his already league-leading technical foul total. After a resounding Ben Simmons alley-oop dunk, officials penalized Durant for stepping foot on the court, earning the Nets star his 11th technical of the season. With that infraction, Durant only needs to incur five more technicals to warrant an automatic one-game suspension.
This, naturally, drew the frustration of Nets fans on Twitter. One fan in particular brought up how Durant's technicals were “getting annoying”. And Durant, ever the expressive person he is, agreed with the fan's sentiment.
“I wanna say 7 of my 10 techs have been from me talking to loud to the refs. Not even using foul language..I’d scream “yo that’s a foul” and boom…,” Durant wrote on his official Twitter account.
Perhaps the referees have, indeed, been harsh on Kevin Durant. (His latest technical was warranted, however. After all, according to the NBA rule book, “bench players may not come onto the playing court during live play for any reason.”) In 55 games last season, Durant only accrued eight technicals, 11 shy of Trae Young's league-leading total.
Still, there's no guarantees on how a game is officiated on a nightly basis, particularly regarding technical fouls. Jayson Tatum was once called for a technical for clapping at himself for a poor sequence. And more recently, referees ejected Ja Morant from the game for talking to a fan at courtside.
Thus, Kevin Durant may just have to face the music and try to be at his best behavior as he looks to avoid suspension.
