Sometimes, officials are forced to eject fans, even if the fan in question is Ja Morant’s father.
The Memphis Grizzlies recently locked horns with the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
With the top two teams in the West clashing, it was bound to be an exciting matchup. However, the Grizzlies were handed a 125-112 home defeat as they slipped to a 35-17 record for the season.
Grizzlies superstar Ja Morant’s quiet night on the offensive end of the floor was a key reason behind the team’s defeat. Ja’s father, Tee Morant, made headlines for all the wrong reasons after the game.
Morant’s father is a mainstay in the Grizzlies arena cheering for his son, but at times he can get a bit carried away with his emotions.
Fans witnessed that version of Tee during Memphis’ recent loss at the hands of the OKC Thunder. During the fourth quarter of the matchup, Morant was escorted out of the arena.
During the incident, the Grizzlies were down 122-107 with just 2:10 left on the clock. Many suspected there was some frustration on Morant’s part due to the evident defeat.
On the other hand, some were left puzzled by the decision. However, the cloud of doubt was cleared in the Pool Report after the game.
It isn’t rare to see fans, players or coaches express their anger toward the officials, especially if the home team is suffering a blowout defeat.
But there are some lines that are never meant to be crossed and Tee did just that, per crew chief Josh Tiven.
“The fan continued to repeat overtly disrespectful statements about the integrity of the officiating crew, so as the Crew Chief I approached security and asked that he be removed,” Tiven stated.
He added: “Yes. There were very specific, overtly disrespectful comments made about the integrity of the crew.”
Tiven also admitted that he was aware of the fan being Tee Morant. Considering Tiven didn’t reveal Tee’s actual comments, but he must have really hit a nerve to get ejected in the middle of his son’s game.
