Kevin Durant gets ejected in first game back
Warriors forward Kevin Durant was ejected Thursday in the second quarter of Golden State’s 116-107 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Durant now has been ejected from five games this year, tied for the most by a player in a single season since Rasheed Wallace in 2000-2001. Wallace was bounced from seven games that season.
In 2012-2013, Larry Sanders of the Bucks was ejected from five contests, according to ESPN.
It was a rocky re-entry for Durant, who missed the previous six games with a rib injury. He was tossed after receiving his second technical foul of the night with just over two seconds remaining in the first half.
Kevin Durant straight up ejected for cursing out ref pic.twitter.com/UcaCszvnrq
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) March 30, 2018
“I got fouled and told ’em how I felt about it, and they kicked me out. Pretty simple,” he said after the game.
Durant claims he was fouled by Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo on a drive to the hoop with about 13 second left in the half. Durant hit the deck on the miss, but no foul was called.
He got up and started arguing with referee Tre Maddox while the play was still going on. Maddox gave him one technical foul, and when Durant kept arguing, he was called for a second technical.
“Mr. Durant was ejected due to the fact of two technical fouls. The first technical foul was issued for vulgarity. After the first technical foul was issued, the official tried to walk away, started to walk away, and the vulgarity escalated, and then he was assessed a second technical foul for the escalation of the vulgarity, resulting in an ejection,” crew chief Bill Kennedy said in a statement.
Durant finished with 10 points in 17 minutes.
Overall, Durant has 14 technical fouls this year. If he’s called for two more, he will be suspended for one game.
“I got thrown out of the basketball game. I wish I didn’t. I wanted to play. I’m sorry. Well, I’m not sorry, but I wish I could finish the game,” Durant stated. “Definitely wanted to finish the game. That’s (what) I’m more so upset about — that I didn’t finish the game I wanted to play after being out a couple of weeks.”
Kevin Durant answering a bunch of questions on his ejection pic.twitter.com/kuVtTOtlqG
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 30, 2018
One reporter asked Durant why he’s been ejected from so many games this year compared to previous seasons. In his career, other than this season, ejections for Durant were rare.
Kevin Durant was ejected once in his first 10 seasons in the NBA. This season alone he's been ejected FIVE. What do you make of that?
— Nick Camino (@NickCaminoWKYC) March 30, 2018
“It’s usually just bad calls that I’m protesting,” Durant said after the game, as reported by SB Nation. “Is it a character flaw that I get thrown out of games? I hope not. I hope you don’t look at it that way. It’s mainly just foul calls that I think are wrong, and I tell them about it, and they don’t like how I say it. But I could definitely.. talk to them a little better, I guess.”
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