NBA officials explain controversial ejection of Giannis Antetokounmpo after alleged taunt

On Wednesday, Giannis Antetokounmpo suffered a controversial ejection after picking up his second technical foul in the third quarter of Milwaukee‘s tight 120-118 win against Detroit. However, everyone was shaken over the referee’s decision as the power forward had only played 22 minutes up to that point and was leading his team to a 35-14 run.

After a lot of fans and experts were fuming about the call, the league officials finally addressed the situation, justifying their actions by saying the Bucks player was taunting his opponent.

“After the dunk Giannis turns to his opponent and taunts him and a taunting technical foul was called, an unsportsmanlike. And he was ejected from the game, per rule, because two unsportsmanlike technical fouls, you are ejected from the game,” the NBA ref said.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was ejected for this stare down…

Milwaukee had a 13 point lead at the time of the ejection. They now trail Detroit by 8 at the end of the 3rd quarter😬 pic.twitter.com/U3uI9zSxAk

— SportSense Entertainment (@SportSenseEnt) November 9, 2023

Milwaukee coach Adrian Griffin told reporters after the game that he feels the need to protect his star player. “Giannis doesn’t complain to the refs,” he said. “He’s really respectful to the refs. And I think I’m letting him down in that sense because I think I need to be a little more vocal during the games when he’s getting hit and kind of stick up for him a little bit better.”

“So I’ve been dropping the ball on that. And it’s an emotional game, he made a phenomenal play. It was exciting, emotional. And I thought he moved on fairly quickly. So I was surprised with the second technical, but that’s up to the league to decide,” Griffin shared.

Stephen A. Smith promised to call the NBA to complain personally after he called the ejection “ridiculous” during Thursday’s episode of First Take, as he believes Antetokounmpo did not deserve the second tech.

“I’m gonna call the league office today,” the ESPN analyst said. “Who the hell is paying to see the referee? That is not a reason to eject Giannis Antetokounmpo from a game. That is ridiculous. That is a disservice to the fans, to the paying customer coming to see them play.”

Giannis just put up his second-highest point performance on Thursday but the Bucks still lost against the Pacers

After being ejected on Wednesday, Antetokounmpo suited up against Indiana the next day and put up a 54-point display which wasn’t enough to win the game. This meant The Greek Freak’s second-highest point performance, but committed two turnovers with 1:29 left on the clock as the Pacers rallied past the Bucks and won 126 to 124.

On the other hand, Tyrese Haliburton had 29 points and 10 assists and Bennedict Mathurin added 26 points and 11 rebounds for Indiana, who upset Milwaukee’s 18-point lead.

“We had to deal with a player who was extraordinarily hot and on a roll,” said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle. “We executed as well as we could and created some chaos defensively. You’ve got to take some risks or else he’s going to end up with 60. Very fortunate to get the win.”

Coach Griffin insisted that referees didn’t protect his star player, as he was getting hit throughout the contest. Milwaukee shot 53% from the floor but made only 9 of 27 from range.

“I thought Giannis was getting hit quite a bit and voiced my opinion,” he said. “Next time I’ll be a little more delicate. He’s such a great human being and doesn’t complain, has such respect for the referees. It is my responsibility to make sure he’s protected.”