As if the Cleveland Cavaliers' troubles couldn't get any worse while the Golden State Warriors were blowing them out in their NBA Finals rematch on Monday, the officials ejected J.R. Smith after handing him a flagrant-2 foul.
Smith was the team's leading scorer at the time of his ejection with 14 points. He left with 10 minutes, 41 seconds remaining in the third quarter while the Cavaliers were trailing, 76-44.
Smith rammed into Warriors forward Harrison Barnes’ shoulder to draw the foul. Referees reviewed the incident before deeming it an ejection-worthy foul.
Here’s a look at the exchange, courtesy of B/R:
The review and nature of the hit prompted speculation it should’ve been called a flagrant-1, as Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post and Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News noted:
However, Cavaliers Nation argued that Smith was tossed in part because of his past reputation of being a dirty player, as some would argue:
Smith has a well-chronicled past as an aggressive defende ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Daniel Kramer
J.R. Smith Ejected for Flagrant-2 Foul vs. Warriors: Details, Comments, Reaction
January 18th, 2016 by Daniel Kramer Leave a reply »
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