
New Orleans Pelicans vs. OKC Thunder: Player Grades for the small forwards
Small Forwards
Brandon Ingram was just starting to cook when he was victimized by one of the softest ejections I’ve ever seen.
Ingram tried to block an Isaiah Roby shot at the rim with a violent swipe that got some ball and some head. It was a foul, yes, but there clearly wasn’t anything dirty about it, as Ingram made a play on the ball and has no history of those types of antics.
Instead of just calling it a foul, as they would have done in a game with 12-year-olds, the refs decided to make themselves the focus of the game, ejecting Ingram for a foul that probably shouldn’t even have been a Flagrant 1.
It was weak and the NBA should review it, as these types of calls are ruining their product.
No one wants to go back to the holding and hard fouls of the 1990’s but the NBA has gone way too far the other way and is neutering the competitive spirit of the game, and reducing the chance for rivalries to develop.