Los Angeles Lakers starting shooting guard Austin Reaves was ejected from Wednesday night's NBA game against Charlotte for arguing with officials over an alleged foul that was not called.
It happened with 3:17 remaining in the third quarter with the Lakers holding a 65-57 lead. Reaves was dribbling towards the basket when he had the ball stripped by Hornets center Jusuf Nurkic. As Nurkic turned to gain control of the ball, Reaves paused for a moment expecting a foul call. When there was no call, Reaves turned towards official Rodney Mott, who was positioned along the baseline, and screamed something at him while throwing his fist in anger. Mott clearly did not like what Reaves had to say, so he blew the whistle and gave him a technical.
Reaves started walking back towards the other end of the court, but turned back towards Mott to make one last comment about the apparent non-call. Again, Mott did not appreciate Reaves' comment, so he gave him a second technical foul, leading to Reaves' ejection.
Reaves has to be better than this. Once you lose your temper with an official and get the first technical foul called on you, it's time to zip it. The officials will give you a little leeway to argue, but Reaves couldn't let it go. He had to make that one last comment, and he was sent to the locker room as a result.
Reaves finished with 8 points and was unavailable down the stretch. The Lakers blew their lead and lost to the Hornets 100-97, with LeBron James missing two game-tying 3-point attempts in the final seconds.
[ESPN]
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
