The usually mild-mannered Golden State Warriors guard Shaun Livingston earned a rare ejection against the Miami Heat for making contact with an official. The veteran Warrior went out and confronted the official, Courtney Kirkland, to dispute a call he didn’t like, but Kirkland also appeared to walk at Livingston.
Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard didn’t defend Livingston’s ejection, which he thought was warranted. However, he did question the actions of Kirkland, who appeared prepared to get physical with Livingston from the way he went at the Warriors guard.
Livingston should have been ejected but Ref stepped to him like he was ready to fight or somethin 🤷🏽♂️… what happens?
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) December 4, 2017
Lillard raises a fair question in terms of what the consequences are for officials when they appear to overstep their authority as Kirkland seemed to do in that particular instance. The NBA can’t have their officials appearing ready to fight their players.
Even if players can get overly emotional at times when disputing calls, it's still the officials' job to always be able to keep their cool.
It’ll be interesting to see what steps — if any — the NBA makes with the whole situation involving Kirkland. If nothing comes of it, there could be a lot more players apart from Lillard who go out and voice their displeasure at officials and the league the next time a similar incident occurs.
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