Add the officiating on the finish of the Toronto Raptors-Denver Nuggets recreation Monday evening into the binder of criticism referees have confronted this season. With the Raptors down by one level with 30 seconds left, Toronto ahead Scottie Barnes was inexplicably ejected on one technical foul by head official Scott Foster. Raptors head coach Nick Nurse was irate, Barnes was completely confused, however Foster was adamant that the second-year ahead wanted to move again to the locker room for the rest of the sport.
The ejection got here after Jakob Poeltl was referred to as for a foul on Aaron Gordon. As Foster was strolling to the scorers desk to sign who the foul was on, he shortly circled and hit Barnes with a technical and an ejection.
Here’s the way it went down:
In the pool report following the sport, Foster stated he ejected Barnes as a result of “he used verbiage that which immediately questioned the integrity of the crew.”
In the video you may see Barnes stated one thing, however after the sport the Raptors ahead stated he was speaking to himself, not the referees.
When requested in regards to the foul name that led to Barnes’ ejection, Nurse stated “there was nothing there.” Nurse adopted that as much as say a very good recreation was “sadly interrupted” by the foul and ejection.
While dropping Barnes for the final 30 seconds of the sport wasn’t the one motive the Raptors misplaced the sport, 118-113, regardless of holding a six-point lead with three minutes left, it actually dampened what may’ve been an thrilling end.
Given the fuzzy rationalization about what led to Barnes’ ejection, that is one thing that the league may rescind after reviewing the tape. That would not actually assist the Raptors in the long term, and can solely add to the frustration of the preliminary name within the first place.
But no matter what the league does, Barnes’ ejection simply should not have occurred. Games are tight. Playoff berths are on the road. Players are invested in video games, competing onerous, as they need to, as all of us need them to. And generally there are emotional reactions to calls, good or unhealthy.
This is not the primary occasion of the officers getting heavy handed in relation to handing out technicals or ejections, and this season particularly has seen some actually unhealthy calls. This was an egregious mistake by Foster that performed an enormous consider Toronto’s loss.
