It’s almost as if the Zebras just wanna ruin the fun. Imagine if this was the first time a kid was able to see Giannis in person? All that time, money, and effort to see your favorite player just for them to get the boot.
To eject Giannis over that, but a few days ago Draymond Green is allowed to run and yell at refs for 45 seconds and gets no tech for it is just a gross display of abusive power.
This was 2nd technical correct? Not a straight ejection? I think a tech is defendable in this scenario, but I’m obviously the minority in this thread. Lowry was obviously pretty frustrated when he threw that ball and didn’t look to see if the ref was looking when he threw it. If the ref had his back turned everyone would agree that this is a tech. That is probably what the ref felt it was equivalent to.
Should an NBA level ref have better player management than this, yes. But without having the context it is harder to just put the ref on blast. If Lowry was arguing calls all game and close to a 2nd tech already this may have been what pushed it over the edge.
I think it should be mentioned that Lowry tossed the ball underhand at the ref. The ref obviously didn’t know that, since they didn’t see it, but not seeing an act that you call a technical for isn’t really a defense.
And yes, Lowry is extremely annoying. I’m sure he was whining all game. But the remedy for that is for the ref to warn him and then T him the next time he says something, not to T him for something they didn’t see.