Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was ejected from Wednesday night’s game against the Detroit Pistons at the 9-minute mark of the third quarter after a ferocious dunk that gave the Bucks a 73-60 lead.
After he came down from the dunk, Antetokounmpo stared at Pistons forward Isaiah Stewart and he was assessed the technical by official Scott Twardoski.
Antetokounmpo couldn’t believe the call and briefly sat down in a courtside seat before finally heading to the locker room.
He followed Twardoski briefly after the call looking for an explanation.
The two-time league MVP earned his first technical foul with 3:47 to go in the second quarter away from the ball, as Detroit’s Cade Cunningham was called for a foul on Bucks point guard Damian Lillard.
Thanasis Antetokounmpo received a technical shortly after his brother left the court.
Giannis Antetokounmpo finished his night with 15 points on 6 of 16 shooting. He also had nine rebounds and five assists.
Prior to the technical fouls called on the Antetokounmpos, Stewart and Jae Crowder had been given double technicals for an off-ball foul by Stewart following a Bobby Portis basket. Brook Lopez had also been hit with a technical while arguing a foul call in the second quarter.
Joining Twardoski, the game’s umpire, on the officiating crew were crew chief Rodney Mott and referee Mitchell Ervin.
Official explains technical foul calls on Giannis Antetokounmpo to pool reporter
Mott addressed the whistles with a pool reporter after the game (questions in italics):
Explain why Giannis Antetokounmpo was called for a technical foul at the 3:47 mark of the second quarter. Looked like it was “off the ball,” as the play was a personal foul call on Cade Cunningham that sent Damian Lillard to the line.
MOTTO: On the play, Giannis drives to the basket and he thinks he gets fouled. Then he approaches the game official and uses profanity, which is an unsportsmanlike technical foul and was issued at that time.
Explain why Giannis Antetokounmpo was called for a technical foul at the 9:00 mark of the third quarter following a dunk and subsequently ejected.
MOTTO: 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.
How many times has Giannis been ejected?
It is the fourth career regular season ejection for Antetokounmpo and fifth overall:
