An NBA referee has whistled foul on an Associated Press Timberwolves reporter who tweeted that the ref promised points to head coach Kurt Rambis after a bad call.
Bill Spooner said he has "honestly" refereed NBA games for 22 years, but was investigated by the league after AP writer Jon Krawczynski posted a message on social networking site Twitter.com during the Jan. 24 Timberwolves game against the Houston Rockets at the Target Center.
According to his suit, the Oak Park, Cali. referee called a Minnesota player for a foul at 10:22 in the second period and got an earful from Rambis.
After promising to review the call at the half, Spooner said Rambis asked him how he would get the points back.
Spooner said he didn't respond to the comment, but Krawczynski soon after tweeted: "Ref Bill Spooner told Rambis he'd "get it back" after a bad call. Then he made an even worse call on Rockets. That's NBA officiating folks."
Spooner called that Tweet a defamatory accusation of game fixing, and said the reporter and his employer have refused to retract it. His suit seeks more than $75,000 in damages, the Tweet to be unpublished and a retraction of the statement.
“We believe all of the facts we reported from the game in question were accurate,”AP Associate General Counsel Dave Tomlin said in a statement.
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