An already bad third quarter turned even worse for the Los Angeles Lakers when Anthony Davis picked up a technical foul and was ejected from the team’s loss to the Chicago Bulls. Davis had already picked up an early tech for arguing a foul call in the first quarter, but the situation surrounding his ejection seemed questionable to say the least.
Davis lost his shoe during a Lakers offensive possession in which the ball went out of bounds to the Bulls. As Davis was putting his shoe on, the official handed the ball to the Bulls to take it out which prompted Davis to yell at one for allowing the next possession to begin before he was able to get his shoe on and he was immediately assessed his second technical and ejected.
Lakers head coach Frank Vogel was firmly in the corner of his superstar big man, believing the official showed a quick trigger in ejecting Davis.
“I think typically the ref will wipe the ball, let the guy get his shoe on, have some common sense. Quick in-bounds, AD said ‘that’s BS,’ which happens about 15 times in the NBA every game. Quick tech, ejection. I don’t know what to say about that.”
Usually during a dead ball, the official gives a player the chance to get his shoe back on before the next possession begins so Davis being annoyed at the officials is somewhat understandable. Additionally, there was not much of an argument as Davis was tossed seemingly at the first words he spoke to the referee.
Of course, there are those ‘magic words’ that tend to lead to an immediate technical, but if what Vogel says is accurate about Davis’ words, he is right in that things of that nature are said pretty regularly throughout every NBA game.
Unfortunately for Davis and the Lakers, his ejection likely would have made no difference as things had already gotten out of hand against the much-improved Bulls. The Lakers were already down by 21 points at the time he was thrown out and the Bulls had done an excellent job of frustrating Davis throughout the night.
Perhaps Davis’ rough night and the Lakers’ overall start to the season helped to contribute to his overall frustration in this game, but regardless, there seemed to be a quick trigger towards Davis in that moment.
Vogel credits Bulls for making shots
The main reason the Bulls came away with the win was because of their shooting from the perimeter, which Vogel had high praise for after the game when asked if it was a case of great shot-making or poor defense by the Lakers.
“A little bit of both,” Vogel said. “I thought there was a lot of good possessions where they made a tough shot, made a tough three. And then there was a lot of times where we were trying to double team two super hot players. Zach [LaVine’s] been really hot, so we’re trying to get the ball out of his hands, and Lonzo gets going on the backside.
“We’re trying not to double team DeRozan early because of what Zach and Lonzo look like on the backside and he gets going and it’s one-on-one, so they’re an extremely difficult team to guard, put a lot of pressure on you and give them credit for shooting the heck out of the ball.”
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