The Dallas Mavericks had a five-point lead over the Los Angeles Clippers early in the third quarter of Monday night’s Game 1 of their first-round series when things changed in a hurry… because of a very weak call by the officials.
Mavs star Kristaps Porzingis was called for a technical foul for a little bit of pushing and shoving that seemed liked normal playoff basketball stuff. The technical was his second one of the game and off he went, which was pretty lame.
The Clippers went on to win the game 118-110.
Did Porzingis really deserve a technical for jumping in a little bit to stand up for his teammate, Luca Doncic?
You be the judge:
Kristaps Porzingis ejected in his first NBA playoff game on some real weak sauce š¤¦š¾āāļø…pic.twitter.com/OgVOyAEBev
— Kevin Gray Jr. (@KevinGraySports) August 18, 2020
I mean, come on. This is the playoffs. The refs need to be better than that.
Porzingis spoke about it after the game:
Porzingis breaks down what he made of his ejection pic.twitter.com/mzJAi012vA
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) August 18, 2020
Doncic said the team appreciated Porzingis having his back:
Mavericksā Luka Doncic on Kristaps Porzingisās ejection: āKP had my back… Not just me, the whole team appreciated that. I donāt think it was fair to throw him out of the game, especially in the playoffs.ā pic.twitter.com/ueMJVnJUaU
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) August 18, 2020
LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, and Patrick Mahomes were among those rightly ripping the refs:
Man that was BOGUS AS HELL MAN!!!!! Cmon man. š¤¦š¾āāļø
— LeBron James (@KingJames) August 18, 2020
That ejection is super soft…
— Dirk Nowitzki (@swish41) August 18, 2020
Thatās trash man! š #NBAPlayoffs
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) August 18, 2020
Would've been awfully interesting to see how this game would've played out if Kristaps Porzingis wasn't ejected on two soft technical fouls.
— Mike Leslie (@MikeLeslieWFAA) August 18, 2020
This Porzingis ejection is…something.
That's too much officiating.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) August 18, 2020
Donāt forget, Porzingis caught his first technical on a perfectly clean block at the rim.
His second technical was separating a Clippers player from his teammate.
That ejection is totally indefensible and really hurts the game.
— Dave Loughran (@Loughy_D) August 18, 2020
Anyone who defends that Porzingis ejection either is fading him in DFS or has money on the Clippers.
— Peter Jennings (@CSURAM88) August 18, 2020
NBA definitely rigging this for the Clippers… That Porzingis ejection is inexcusable
— FlightMike (@TheFlightMike) August 18, 2020
Mark Cuban getting that fine money ready after the Porzingis ejection. š¬ pic.twitter.com/hyzoU42CUQ
— theScore Bet (@theScoreBet) August 18, 2020
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