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The game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Portland Trail Blazers inside the Moda Center on Sunday was a hotly-contested one, with the home team winning by only four points, 103-99. However, it was also filled with some controversy, as Carmelo Anthony was ejected from the game, following a questionable Flagrant 2 foul called on him in the third quarter.
After getting poked in the eye and no call made by the referees, the 10-time All-Star drove hard to the basket and attacked the defense of Jusuf Nurkic. He double-clutched his shot, and hit the Bosnian international on the face with his elbow, before converting his attempt. That resulted to a review, before it was deemed as excessive contact, which led to his ejection. A lot of chatter was made after the game, but the NBA still opted not to downgrade it, and recently gave an explanation for their decision, via Fred Katz of the Norman Transcript.
More NBA on why they aren't downgrading Melo's flagrant: "While attempting to draw a foul, Anthony extended his elbow into his opponent’s face, which is dangerous and reckless in nature."
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) November 8, 2017
Thunder fans, their players and coaches, argued that what the veteran forward pulled off was a natural motion, and that it was necessary for him to double-clutch it, in order to complete the play. Now that the league office has agreed with the referee's call, Anthony and the Thunder are left to start moving on from it, and not allow the call to serve as a distraction to them.
Oklahoma City has not had the best of starts to their season, and currently only have a 4-6 record to show. They will need all the help they can get to turn around their fortunes and start stringing some games together. The best option left for them is to get over the questionable call on Anthony quickly, and just focus on their upcoming games, in order to climb up the standings in the tough Western Conference.
