The Phoenix Suns beating the Oklahoma City Thunder would have been viewed as one of the greatest playoff upsets of all-time, so you can’t say that the officiating is the reason why they’re down 0-3.
But the Game 2 technical on Devin Booker remains the strangest moment of this series, and the superstar’s comments in the aftermath of that game led to a $35,000 fine.
Same referee ejects Adou Thiero in Lakers vs Rockets series
Booker clearly knew what he was talking about however, as the same referee (James Williams) was at it again during Game 4 of the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets series.
Williams ejecting Thiero for… well we’re not sure exactly? Aaron Holiday of the Rockets also received his marching orders, and looking closer about the only thing the pair did was get close to one another during a contest under the basket.
There was another hilarious, Suns related layer to this one, with Jabari Smith Jr. feeling the need to celebrate Thiero getting kicked out. The same player who recently went public on his apparent frustrations with teammate Kevin Durant.
Look at Jabari Smith celebrating Adou Thiero getting ejected… what a clown 🤡
— Lakers All Day Everyday (@LADEig) April 27, 2026
Can’t wait till he gets sent home on Wednesday lmaooo pic.twitter.com/FexHWAHrYA
The Suns are all too familiar with that, Durant's tenure in The Valley ending badly. For Booker though, this is a small bit of vindication for what happened in Game 2.
Clearly this isn't personal with Booker, and instead is a case of Williams reaching for the technical foul too readily this postseason.
It's not like what happened to Booker altered the outcome of the contest either, the Suns have been well beaten by the Thunder all series.
If anything they have more support throughout the league than ever in these playoffs, because of the golden whistle the Thunder seem to have behind them.
But it also proves that Booker was right to call out a referee publicly by name for the first time in his career, because they've gone and made another bad mistake in another important game.
If the Suns were on their way to advancing in these playoffs then perhaps this would have been seen as a bad move.
You might remember another former Sun in Chris Paul had comments made about officiating follow him around long after the disagreement in question.
What happened to Booker never should have, but at least with a former teammate receiving an even worse punishment from the same referee we know it was not personal.
Add us as a preferred source on Google