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Joe Mazzulla Challenged a Foul Call Just to Hear Referee Bill Kennedy Work the Mic

Memorable NBA ref has the league taking notice.

Stephen Douglas

Bill Kennedy tells the crowd at Golden 1 Center what’s going on during a Celtics-Kings game.
Bill Kennedy tells the crowd at Golden 1 Center what’s going on during a Celtics-Kings game. / @MrBuckBuckNBA
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The Boston Celtics beat the Sacramento Kings, 120-106, on Thursday night. Jaylen Brown had 29 points, 10 rebounds and four assists before fouling out with just over two minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

Brown stepped in front of DeMar DeRozan and both players fell down as Brown slapped the ball away. A foul was immediately called on Brown. It was his sixth foul of the game so Joe Mazzulla challenged the call. Or at least that's why you might have assumed he challenged the call.

While watching the replay, NBC Sports Boston's Brian Scalabrine was immediately excited and said, "We get Billy Kennedy!" Scalabrine and play-by-play announcer Drew Carter then joked about Kennedy's replay review calls before they were ultimately disappointed by a very matter-of-fact explanation from the referee that confirmed Brown's foul.

After the game Mazzulla was asked about challenging the call and his only explanation was that he wanted to hear Billy Kennedy because "he does a really great challenge and we we're gonna do it anyway just to hear him deliver the challenge."

It seems we've finally found something in this world that brings joy to Joe Mazzulla.

Kennedy must have been fresh on the Celtics' minds because he worked their game against the Pacers and delivered one of his signature exaggerated challenge explanations.

Carter and Scalabrine joked about that call from Kennedy while awaiting his latest decision and noted that people are starting to notice Kennedy's calls, though most people know this is nothing new.

In between Celtics games, Kennedy also worked the Grizzlies-76ers game on Tuesday and delivered another classic.

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Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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