The Oklahoma City Thunder were again defeated at the Portland Trail Blazers. On top, Carmelo Anthony was ejected because of a Flagrant Foul 2. The forward didn’t agree at all.
I don’t have anything to say about that,”said a visibly pissed off Anthony after the game,”but I think the league will do the right thing,” Melo pulled up to the basket in the third quarter and contacted Blazers Center Jusuf Nurkic, who he caught catching with the elbow on his chin. The Bosnian went down and stayed on the ground for a few seconds. The referees then looked at the play in the repetition and directed Anthony to the field.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,”Thunder coach Billy Donovan said,”First he gets an and-one and then gets ejected. A Flagrant Foul 2 is pronounced when a player makes “unnecessary and excessive contact” with his opponent. In the opinion of the referees, this was the case.
The referees defended themselves after the match and said,”We decided that there was a lot of contact and that this wasn’t a basketball move when he met Nurkic with the elbow in his face,”explained Chief Arbitrator Rodney Mott,”Because there was excessive and unnecessary contact, we imposed a Flagrant Foul 2″.
A few minutes earlier, Anthony had already taken a technical foul after complaining. Russell Westbrook had received a blow from Noah Vonleh, a review of the referees did not take place,”I didn’t say anything wrong. I think there was a lot of bad blood involved today,”says Melo. Without Anthony the Thunder lost 99:103, but after a big gap in the final phase they made it exciting again.