James Capers was the crew chief of the three NBA officials overseeing Wednesday's game between the Celtics and Nets at TD Garden. He was interviewed by a pool reporter after the game that featured the second-quarter brawl that resulted in the ejections of Rajon Rondo, Kris Humphries, and Gerald Wallace. Capers will file a report with the NBA that will factor in any potential discipline that will be handed down. The full transcript is as follows:
Q: What specifically prompted the ejection of Rondo?
Capers: Rondo initiated everything that proceeded after the foul. And when he and Humphries go into the stands, they are involved in a fight. Fighting is an automatic ejection.
Q: What were the reasons for the two technical fouls on Humphries?
A: When Kevin goes to the basket, he is re-routed by Humphries. So we had a personal foul for the re-route. Kevin is trying to continue -- to get a continuation by shooting -- and now Humphries hits him. Because the whistle blew, it was a dead-ball situation, and that's a technical foul for contact during a dead ball... What proceeds after that is a fight, so he's ejected.
Q: Did Wallace or Garnett throw a punch?
A: As we reviewed it, no. They aggressively went to one another, and they basically pushed and extended on one another, but there was not a punch thrown.
Q:What prompted their technicals?
A: For the escalating of the event. And then Wallace (already) had one, so therefore he was ejected.
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