Clipperholics
Fansided

Jamal Crawford receives the first ejection of career

Trisity Miller|

You may find this hard to believe, but during the nine-minute mark of the fourth quarter, Clippers reigning Sixth Man of the Year in Jamal Crawford was ejected from the game for arguing a loose-ball foul against Suns guard and former Clipper Eric Bledsoe.

Uncommon right? Very for the 34 year old. Per the Clippers broadcast, this ejection was the first of Crawford’s career. If you’re unfamiliar with how long Crawford has been playing, consider this: he was drafted in 2000 and has played in 60+ games in 12 seasons (and is on track to do so tonight), and is one of 132 players in NBA history to play in 30,000+ minutes.

Per ESPN stats log, last night’s technical was Crawford’s second on the season and 42nd for his career.

‘That was the craziest ejection I’ve ever seen without going too much into it and getting in trouble”

What’s also uncommon is a player being ejected with only one technical foul. Unless an egregious act is committed, NBA players are often ejected when they 1) receive two technical fouls in one game or 2) receive a flagrant two foul. As you can see, Crawford did neither.

Following the game, Crawford sent out this tweet to support his teammates who pulled the game off thanks to a game-winning three from Blake Griffin (yes you read that right).

When given a chance to defend the call, Mark Lindsey declined per Arash Markazi of ESPN.

Following the game, the Clippers came to Crawford’s defense as the call.

“He deserved one tech, for sure. I don’t know if you get thrown out for that,” said head coach Doc Rivers. Blake Griffin also disagreed with the rejection

“That was the craziest ejection I’ve ever seen without going too much into it and getting in trouble,” said Blake Griffin who finished with a season-high 45 points. “I’ve never seen that happen before … I heard a guy say worse things tonight and not even get a technical.”

Prior to ejection, Crawford was providing his usual spark off the bench, having scored 9 points on 3-0f-10 shooting.

It’ll be interesting to see if the league stands by Lindsay’s ejection — this season, the NBA has rescinded 12 technical fouls by players. If the foul isn’t rescinded, Crawford will receive a $1000 fine (cost for 1-2 techs on the season) and $2000 for the ejection.

More from Clipperholics