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Kristaps Porzingis Says He Doesn't Believe He Should've Been Ejected vs Clippers
August 18, 2020
The biggest story of the Los Angeles Clippers' 118-110 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in Monday's Game 1 of their first-round playoff series wasn't the play of Kawhi Leonard or the championship contenders notching an early win.
Rather, it was Kristaps Porzingis' controversial ejection in the third quarter after he picked up a second technical foul for a slight shove toward Marcus Morris Sr. after the Clippers forward grabbed and jawed at Mavericks point guard Luka Doncic.
"No, of course not," Porzingis told reporters when asked if he deserved the second technical foul. "But I understand. We got into it a little bit. I saw him getting into Luka's face, and I didn't like that. That's why I reacted."
He also admitted he has to "be smarter and control my emotions."
Doncic and head coach Rick Carlisle also talked about the ejection, with the former saying "I don't think it was fair to kick him out of the game, especially in the playoffs" and the latter calling it "unfortunate" and a learning opportunity:
Both of them recognized Porzingis was just protecting his teammate on the second technical, which Doncic said he appreciated, but Carlisle pointed out the big man failed to control his emotions on the first technical.
It was a difficult blow for Dallas, which was leading by five points in the third quarter at the time of the ejection after battling back from an early 18-2 deficit.
Marc J. Spears of ESPN's The Undefeated shared the pool report interview with officiating crew chief Kane Fitzgerald in which Fitzgerald said the second technical foul was assessed because Porzingis was "being an escalator to the altercation which was confirmed via replay."
Doncic fought through turnover issues to finish with 42 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and three steals, but it wasn't enough to counter the combined efforts of Kawhi Leonard (29 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and three steals) and Paul George (27 points).
Perhaps the game would have played out differently if Doncic had the other half of Dallas' impressive duo in the key matchup, but that wasn't the case after the controversial call that drew criticism from LeBron James and many others:
The Mavericks can at least take solace knowing they were leading the game after bouncing back from multiple Clippers runs until Porzingis was ejected. If they can replicate that effort, this may be a long series even with L.A.'s championship aspirations.
Game 2 is Wednesday.