The result understandably took a backseat when the Miami Heat beat the Houston Rockets in a game that saw a full-fledged scuffle and seven ejections.
What started with Amen Thompson throwing Tyler Herro to the ground snowballed into both the benches emptying and the game stopping for nearly five minutes.
At the end of it, having reviewed the whole footage countless times, the referees ejected the two guilty parties and joining them were Ime Udoka, Ben Sullivan (Rockets assistant), Jalen Green, Terry Rozier.
That was after Fred VanVleet had already gotten ejected earlier for contacting the referee Marc Davis over disagreement on a five-second violation.
The Heat emerged victors but such an intense, no-holds-barred fight is what this game will be remembered for, and a man who wasn’t even playing was held responsible for it!
NBA teams and their frustrations with refereeing is a tale as old as time and any time a game sees so many ejections, the referee’s role is bound to come under scrutiny.
Davis handed out ejections with abandon in the aftermath of the fight and not everyone was happy with how he went about it.
NBA expert and founder of Ringer, Bill Simmons, held Davis directly responsible for ‘inflaming’ an already tense situation, insinuating a pattern at play.
Simmons called Davis ‘ridiculous’, adding that he does stuff like this ‘three times a year’.
Davis’ handling of the situation can certainly be scrutinised but to say the whole thing was his fault might be a bit of a reach.
It wasn’t Davis who asked Thompson to throw Herro to the ground and any contact with the referee is an automatic ejection as well. More ejections that followed can be questioned but Davis had his own say on the whole matter after the game.
The referees talk to the press after games like these, giving themselves a chance to clear up their version of events, vastly important in today’s social media world.
Davis did the same after the game and explained the thought process behind every ejection separately.
On VanVleet, he revealed that the player re-engaged him after being pacified once, ‘intentionally contacting’ him which led to his ejection.
Ime Udoka and Ben Sullivan were ejected for their “unsportsmanlike comments” directed towards Davis. Herro and Thompson’s ejections were self-explanatory.
Jalen Green and Terry Rozier were ejected for trying to escalate the situation with their actions, with Davis firm in his belief that neither was trying to de-escalate it prior to their ejection.
Some might disagree with Davis’ reasoning but at least there is a solid reasoning behind every ejection call taken by him.
The fallout from this massive incident will likely continue to boil over in the next few days.
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