Russell Westbrook had two of his league-high 11 technical fouls rescinded by the NBA to drop his total to nine during the day on Wednesday. But he picked up one Wednesday night when he threw a ball at the referee.

“I would never ever disrespect the game in that type of way, throw the ball at a referee,” Westbrook said. “I’ve never done it before.”

Official Sean Corbin explained to a pool reporter that “Instead of Russell (Westbrook) giving the ball to the nearest official, he throws it in the area where Tre (Maddox) is and Tre is not looking. The ball hits him in the face, so that is a technical foul.”

“I just know that Russell felt terrible about it,” Billy Donovan said. “The official who came flying in to give a technical (Brian Berneky), I think Russell went out there and tried to explain it. I don’t know if he was shooting the ball or throwing the ball. I didn’t realize it.

“But in no way was he trying to do that."