Trae Young’s night ended early.
The star Hawks point guard was ejected from Atlanta’s 120-95 loss in the first game of the play-in round to the Magic on Tuesday night in Orlando after he received two technical fouls.
The sequence happened with less than five minutes to go in the fourth quarter after Young drilled a floater in the paint.
He then picked the ball and seemed to throw it with some extra cheddar at referee James Williams, who then T’d up Young.
As Young went down the court, the ball came back near him after Williams flung it toward the other side of the court.
That’s when Young got in front of the ball and instead of immediately giving it to Pat Fraher, the four-time All-Star spun the ball mockingly back to himself and then walked to the baseline with it, getting his second technical and an ejection from the ballgame.
“Trae Young received his first unsportsmanlike technical foul for throwing the ball at a game official,” Williams told a pool reporter after the game.
Williams was then asked why Young got the second technical.
“He received his second unsportsmanlike technical foul for kicking the ball away and making a mockery of the game as we were attempting to shoot the free throw for the first technical foul and by rule when the player receives two unsportsmanlike fouls he’s ejected from the game,” Williams said.
Young finished with a game-high 28 points and six assists despite getting the ejection.
Young said he did what he did to make a statement on behalf of his teammates like Dyson Daniels in a game where the Hawks thought it wasn’t an even whistle.
“Sometimes when I take my frustration out on the refs it’s not just for me,” Young said. “It’s for my teammates. I see Dyson Daniels going; he may not be a household name yet, but he deserves the same amount of respect as some of these other guys. If you see a foul, you should call a foul. That’s pretty much all it was for me.”
Orlando was whistled for 25 personal fouls to Atlanta’s 18 in the game, and the Hawks took 34 free throws while the Magic took 27.
“They’re a physical team. I’ve had two teammates hurt this year in one game against them,” Young said. “I’m not going to call them dirty players or anything like that. I think they have a lot of talented players. But a lot of the plays and the moments … it’s not even necessarily basketball at that point. I think that’s where the frustration got.”
Atlanta will now play the winner of the game between the Bulls and Heat, while the Magic advance to the first round for a date with the second-seeded Celtics.
— with AP
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