Although the Golden State Warriors clearly won the game against Orlando Magic, Kevin Durant was expelled with two technicals about five minutes before the end of the hall. Subsequently, Durant was annoyed with the referees.
“The Refs control the game. If they’re not in such a good mood, they can just make any decision they want,”Durant said,”I need to know that they have all the power, and I just need to shut up and accept that.”
Durant complained loudly in the fourth quarter of his team’s 133-112 win when he thought he should have had free throws, saying,”It should have been two throws, but he didn’t explain it to me,” said Durant about Referee Eric Lewis,”I suppose he threw me out because I kept asking him about it.
Durant had been fouled in the scene by Magic-Guard Elfrid Payton, but the scene was considered a “Non-Shooting Foul”, so there was only a throw-in. Coach Steve Kerr also complained out loud about that and later called it “one of the most bizarre calls I’ve ever seen.”
The finals MVP hit a jumpshot at the next Warriors attack and then turned to Lewis and provoked him, so the ref had enough. It was already the second injection of this season for Durant after he had been expelled from the arena just once in his career.