Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
I really don’t want to be That Guy who kneels at my homemade shrine of Bill Lambieer every morning while softly saying to myself, ‘the NBA has gotten soft.’
But the refs in the Sixers/Hawks game on Monday night left me no choice, as they ejected Sixers forward Mike Scott with 1:36 left in the first half for what officials deemed a Flagrant 2 foul on the Hawks’ Damian Jones. As a refresher, a Flagrant 1 call is made when unnecessary contact is made and a Flagrant 2 is when the contact is unnecessary and excessive, resulting in an automatic ejection.
Common Foul:
wildest ejection i've seen in a long time. this is a regular foul pic.twitter.com/LbIF3FteXK
— drew (@sixersruinedme) October 29, 2019
Flagrant 1:
https://twitter.com/JoeyFrigoNYC/status/1171058816789745666?s=20
The Sixers ended up squeezing out a 105-103 victory to remain unbeaten on the season, so Scott’s ejection wasn’t futile, but still. I can understand if we’re deep into the game and things are getting out of hand, but to toss someone in the second quarter over a foul I wouldn’t call in pickup is outlandish.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought so.
WHAT? A Flagrant-2?!?! Are you kidding me? C'mon now. No reason Mike Scott should have been ejected for that…
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) October 29, 2019
Mike Scott being ejected from this game is one of the most ridiculous things I've seen in an #nba game in a long while.
— Michael K-B (@therealmikekb) October 29, 2019
Mike Scott just got kicked out of the game for a foul that compares to those from the 90s that dudes post on twitter with the caption “I miss the old NBA when players were tough”
Early contender for worst call of the year
— Hoops Reference (@HoopsReference) October 29, 2019
https://twitter.com/JustinLever2/status/1188979499175690243?s=20
https://twitter.com/rachell_marrie/status/1188979041958805504?s=20
Ben Simmons getting pushed in the back while dunking here is worse than what Mike Scott got ejected for. https://t.co/0nR0oDrcgr
— Tim Marcin (@TimMarcin) October 29, 2019
Mike Scott with common foul to stop the breakaway layup.
Refs: https://t.co/oGqHqRdM3l
— Dennis (@GipperGrove) October 29, 2019
Ah, referees. Always getting blasted for their shortcomings. Poor bastards.