Late in the first quarter of Tuesday’s playoff game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander confronted referee Bill Kennedy.
The league announced on Wednesday (via Dan Feldman, NBC Sports) that Alexander had been fined $100,000 as a result of his meddling.
While owners confronting officials isn’t common, it’s not unprecedented, either. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has done that several times throughout his career.
What makes Alexander’s incident rare is that it actually occurred while the game was going. Granted, next to nothing was happening on the court at the time, as Russell Westbrook was standing and waiting to take the final shot of the quarter. But the clock was running and it actually drew Kennedy’s attention away from the floor.
The call that Alexander was protesting didn’t have an impact on the game’s result. Houston defeated Oklahoma City 105-99 to close out the series.