Isaiah Thomas didn’t think he deserved to be ejected for elbow
The 5-foot-9 point guard was sent off after his elbow was deemed a flagrant-2 foul.
Isaiah Thomas is normally the Celtics’ closer late in tight games, but the point guard didn’t get that opportunity on Sunday night against the Miami Heat.
Replay officials ejected the 5-foot-9 All-Star after he elbowed Heat forward Justise Winslow in the face with 3:02 remaining in Boston’s 105-95 win. The elbow was deemed to be a flagrant-2 foul upon a video review by officials in the NBA replay center in New Jersey, resulting in an automatic ejection from the contest for Thomas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Bvjq5twGg
The Celtics were ultimately able to hold off the Heat in Miami without their best playmaker down the stretch, but Thomas still voiced his disappointment with the call after the victory.
“It was just a regular basketball move that I do every game,” Thomas told reporters in Miami. “I just happened to connect. I mean, I don’t mess with no elbows. I’m far from a dirty player, so it sucks the NBA makes, I guess, those type of calls.”
The elbow opened up a cut under the eye of Winslow, but the Heat small forward expressed his surprise to reporters after the game that the contact resulted in an ejection.
“I went out there and I didn’t want [Thomas] to shoot the three,” Winslow said of the play to the Palm Beach Post. “When I closed out I actually said ‘Not letting you shoot or drive the ball’ and he just swung through. It wasn’t excessive. He didn’t mean to hurt me. It was a basketball play. Heat of the moment. I said things. They said things. But no one is out there trying to hurt nobody. It’s just part of the game.”
Game official Tony Brothers told Thomas that he didn’t think the elbow was worthy of an ejection, but the final decision went beyond his control.
“He [Brothers] has to to go off of what they say,” Thomas said. “I’m happy we won, but disappointed they kicked me out. There’s no reason for that.”
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