Terry Stotts Comments on Ejections of Anderson Varejao, Gerald Henderson
Portland Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts defended his player after shooting guard Gerald Henderson earned an ejection while squaring up with Golden State Warriors big man Anderson Varejao on Sunday in Game 1 of the teams' Western Conference Semifinals series.
ESPN.com's Kevin Arnovitz provided Stotts' comments Monday:
"Varejao made a dirty play. It was a leg whip and I thought it was a dangerous play. I thought Gerald's reaction to being tripped like that was appropriate, otherwise no one would've seen it. So, it was unfortunate that he got tossed on the second [set of double technical fouls], but you have to defend yourself, especially when somebody makes a dirty play.
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Henderson took exception to apparently being tripped by Varejao in the third quarter of what proved to be a 118-106 win for the Warriors at Oracle Arena. Officials gave both players double-technical fouls and ejected them from the game:
Warriors forward Draymond Green played down the impact the confrontation will have on the rest of the series, per Jimmy Durkin of the Bay Area News Group:
"I don't really care what happened. I don't think they really care what happened. I don't think it's something that will carry over into the next game. I know Andy's a very classy guy and from what I know about Gerald, I think he's a very classy guy. Some things take place on the court that sometimes you just lose control of, but I know both of those guys will come to ready to play in Game 2.
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Henderson quickly moved on, saying, "I've put it behind me. We lost the game. That was the only thing that matters. I was pissed I got thrown out. We still had a chance to win the game, and I got ejected."
The NBA hasn't announced any plans to review the incident further, so Henderson and Varejao should be available in Game 2 on Tuesday.
The officiating crews will likely be on the lookout over the remainder of the series to defuse any similar situations.
