'What a joke': NBA world rages over 'ridiculous' referee call
NBA fans have been left outraged after Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker was ejected from Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers with two quick technical fould.
Booker was hit with two quick techs in the third quarter by two different referees, after the penalised him for 'continuous complaining' and then 'directing profane language at an official', per the referees' pool report.
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The move to toss Booker, who was recently named an All-Star replacement for the injured Anthony Davis, left fans furious over what they believed was a soft ejection.
The Ringer's NBA expert Kevin O'Connor was one of many to take to Twitter annoyed about a top player being tossed from a nationally televised game over what appeared to be a minor infraction.
Devin Booker gets ejected after bouncing the ball at a ref 👀 pic.twitter.com/kEj0hoMRNz
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 3, 2021
"That Devin Booker ejection is ridiculous. No one is tuning in for the referees. What a joke," he wrote on Twitter.
"The officiating is a major issue. (NBA commissioner) Adam Silver needs to do something about it."
ESPN head writer Tim Bontemps was in agreement, arguing it was 'hard to justify' tossing Booker, who at that point had 17 points, six assists, three rebounds and two steals.
"That is a ridiculously quick hook. Unless he said a whole bunch of magic words in a row, hard to justify two Ts that fast by two different refs," Bontempts wrote.
NBA fans on Twitter were broadly in agreement that Booker hadn't done enough to warrant being thrown out of the game.
They wrong for throwing Devin Booker out the game for whatever they just threw him out of the game for... he didn’t even do anything demonstrative.
— C.J. Lawrence (@CJLawrenceEsq) March 3, 2021
what did Devin Booker do to get ejected?
— Troydan (@Troydan) March 3, 2021
Devin Booker ejection is highly comical.
He got tossed early to go see Kendall Jenner?— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) March 3, 2021
Devin Booker has to be smarter in that situation and rather than giving the ball to the official, he simply needs to cease existing in that specific cross-section of time and space in order to avoid the ejection. Simple as that.
— Kyle Madson (@KyleAMadson) March 3, 2021
Fortunately for Phoenix, the loss of Booker wasn't enough for the shorthanded Lakers to mount a comeback, who were lead by LeBron James with 38 points.
The Suns were able to count on a variety of scorers, with Dario Saric's 21 the highest of five Suns players to reach double figures in the eventual 114-104 victory.
Spurs, Nuggets enjoy strong NBA victories
Trey Lyles scored a season-high 18 points and Patty Mills bagged 14 as the San Antonio Spurs used a balanced effort to beat New York 119-83 on Tuesday night, ending the Knicks' three-game winning streak.
San Antonio had eight players score at least eight points, including Dejounte Murray's 17, in the Spurs' seventh straight home victory over New York.
Immanuel Quickley led New York with 26 points. RJ Barrett added 15 and All-Star Julius Randle had 14.
The Knicks had won seven of nine entering Tuesday's game, but were never able to find a consistent rhythm against the Spurs.
New York had 16 turnovers while failing to score 100 points for the first time since a 107-89 loss at Orlando on February 17.
In Milwaukee, Nikola Jokic reached a career milestone and helped the Denver Nuggets snap the Milwaukee Bucks' five-game winning streak in an emphatic fashion.
Jokic had 37 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for his 50th career triple-double as the Nuggets trounced the Bucks 128-97.
The only other NBA player to collect at least 50 triple-doubles while primarily playing centre was Wilt Chamberlain.
With AAP
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