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I love a good coaching rant or meltdown. In this respect, I’m partial to the sport of baseball where once managers realize they’ve been or are about to be tossed from a game they’ll completely lose their shit on the umpires but I equally appreciate when a basketball or hockey coach goes all-in, you just don’t seem to see it as often in these other sports.
On Sunday, G League coach Chase Buford, lost his mind on the refs. Chase is the head coach of the Wisconsin Herd, the G League affiliate of the Milwaukee Bucks who coincidentally clinched their playoff spot on Sunday thanks to a Washington Wizards loss (even though the Bucks didn’t have a Sunday game).
According to CBS Sports, the Wisconsin Here were riding a 5-game win streak going into Sunday’s game against the Grand Rapids Drive and they held a 39-25 lead after the first quarter and they held a 21 point lead going into the 4th quarter before everything turned to shit.
The way coach Chase Buford tells it in his rant, it was the referee’s fault his team lost 127-117. His rant is amazing, and one that’s landed him a 2-game suspension from the league. Here’s that rant via Twitter and YouTube so you can choose your preferred medium to watch the clip:
Early candidate for coaching rant of the year! Wisconsin Herd Head Coach Chase Buford after his team saw a 21-point lead disappear in the 4th quarter vs. Grand Rapids. And because he asked: @nbagleague pic.twitter.com/cw5t1lMSKI
— Ryan Rodig (@ryanrodig) February 24, 2020
and
If you’d rather read his rant than watch the amazing clip then here’s a transcript of what he had to say about the referees in that game:
The officiating definitely went right for Grand Rapids. That was as unprofessional as an officiating performance — I hope you tweet this out and tag the league, because that was embarrassing. Matt Rafferty is a fucking clown. That being said, we have to be so much better at the end of games. We can’t blow a 21-point lead with 12 minutes to go. However bad and biased and unfair and illegal and cheating the referees are, we have to be better closing games. So that’s the way I feel.
The Wisconsin Herd aren’t imposing any additional punishments or suspensions on Chase Buford for his heated rant. The G League handed down the 2-game suspension.
Friend of the show & Wisconsin Herd coach Chase Buford had a rant for the ages yesterday after the Herd's tough loss to Grand Rapids – One worth a 2-game suspension.
That rant on The @DougRussell Show
+ another friend of the show @ReinerOliviaAll here: https://t.co/NufN1XgyYp pic.twitter.com/g29Eluqffr
— ESPN Milwaukee (@ESPNMilwaukee) February 25, 2020
The Wisconsin Herd is not imposing any punishment of its own against Chase Buford—the 2 game suspension handed down by the G League will do it. Fans who pleaded with the team not to punish him got their wish.
— Ti Windisch (@TiWindisch) February 25, 2020
The Wisconsin Herd are back in action tonight (Tuesday) against the Deleware Blue Coats as the Herd looks to hold onto their #1 spot in the G League Eastern Conference Standings.
For more on this story, you can click here to visit CBS Sports‘ report.