Russell Westbrook apologetic after throwing ball at referee

Russell Westbrook was apologetic after throwing a ball that hit referee Tre Maddox in the head during Wednesday night's loss to the Charlotte Hornets.

The Oklahoma City Thunder superstar — who was issued his 10th technical foul of the season for the incident, which appeared to be unintentional — told reporters after the game that he called Maddox's name before he threw the ball and that he would "never, ever disrespect the game" like that.

"I called his name, he turned right at me, then he looked away," Westbrook said. "I don't know. I don't know what to tell you, brother, I really don't.

"I'm not the type of guy — I would never, ever disrespect the game in that way, throw the ball at a referee. I've never done it before. I mean, that's just not even heard of in our game today. If you do that, you get kicked out the game. That's not allowed. I would never do such a thing. To get a tech, it's crazy to me. But take the good with the bad."

This would have been Westbrook's 12th technical of the season — just four shy of an automatic one-game suspension — but two of his technicals (from November and December) were rescinded earlier in the day.

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