Some basketball players freak out when they get ejected, screaming and cursing and carrying on. Others throw up their hands and wail in a woe-is-me plea for pity from punishing officials. Others, like J.R. Smith on Monday night, just bow their heads and run off the floor back to the locker room.

[Also: Kobe accuses Dahntay Jones of 'dirty' play after ankle injury]

The best approach, though, is the one Milwaukee Bucks center Larry Sanders took to getting chucked after arguing a charging call during the fourth quarter of Wednesday night's matchup with the Washington Wizards in the nation's capital — make sure the refs know that, above all else, you think they're doing a terrific job.

Kobe Bryant has been ruled out indefinitely. (AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Curtis Compton)

The Los Angeles Lakers dropped a close one to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night, but might have lost much more than one game — All-Star shooting guard Kobe Bryant suffered what the team called a severe left ankle sprain late in the fourth quarter and has been ruled out indefinitely.

[Related: Kobe accuses Dahntay Jones of 'dirty' play after ankle injury]

The injury happened in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter, with L.A. trailing the Hawks 94-92 following a very deep Bryant 3-pointer and Atlanta sharpshooter Kyle Korver going 1 for 2 at the foul line:

Yes. (Image via Bobby Bernethy/The Knicks Wall)

A look around the league and the Web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: The Knicks Wall. Not to be Johnny T-shirts today, but for those of us who view the NBA as a religion unto itself, there was only ever one real choice at the conclave, and he rocks Air Force 1s. (And yes, you can totally buy that.)

PF: The Diss. Jacob Greenberg on the "proxy war" being waged between Sacramento and Seattle over ownership of the Kings: "No matter the outcome of this modern-day judgement of Solomon, the NBA will be victorious."

SF: Blazer's Edge. Last night it was Dwight-in-Orlando; tonight, it's Melo-in-Denver; Thursday, Raymond Felton's return to the Rose Garden will take center stage as the New York Knicks face the Portland Trail Blazers. Ben Golliver reminds us about just how contentious things got between Blazers fans and Felton, which neither side has come anywhere close to forgetting.

Cast yer eyes skyward. (David Liam Kyle/NBA/Getty Images)

"It's a bird! It's a plane! It's ... 27 other teams. Oh, man. That's kind of a bummer. Like, we've been pretty good for a while, and it's still that bad. Dang."

It's OK, Washington Wizards. You're still sneakily fun and OK in our books (especially when you have Bradley Beal, so let's get him healthy ASAP). Best caption wins the max contracts we all richly, richly deserve. Good luck.

In our last adventure: Stephen Jackson can't believe how good referee Josh Tiven is at freestyling. This $50,000 battle will NOT be as easy to win as he thought.

Danny Green and Stephen Jackson are such meanies. (AP/Gerald Herbert)

Hey, Stephen Jackson, what did you think of the Minnesota Timberwolves hitting 60 percent of their 3-point shots — which is, like, way better than the league-worst 29.3 percent mark they took into Tuesday — in a blowout win over your San Antonio Spurs?

“It shines on a dog’s ass every now and then,” Jackson said.

OK, cool.

Hey, Danny Green, what do you think about the run the Los Angeles Lakers have been on recently, going 9-2 over their last 11 games and outscoring opponents by more than six points per 100 possessions?

I have to say — it was really nice getting to spend the morning working on a post about how sharp and dominant Dwight Howard was during the Los Angeles Lakers' Tuesday night win over the Orlando Magic — a season-high 39 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks in a hostile environment, determined activity and less labored movement that resulted in distinct Laker advantages in the paint on both ends of the floor, and a sight-for-sore-eyes level of impact that we haven't often seen since the last time Howard wore Orlando blue.

So much of the coverage of Howard, here and elsewhere, has focused on the drama surrounding his situations in Florida and California ... for the first time in a while, it was great to hone in on the actual basketball of it all, rather than, y'know, some dumb stuff he said.

Well, that was fun while it lasted, I guess. Thanks, baseline cameras and basket microphones!

With all due respect to the "NBA Jam"-ification and Jim Ross-ing of it, the part of DeAndre Jordan's mammoth dunk on Brandon Knight that's stuck with me most is the face Jordan made afterward — an acknowledgement of the evil he'd just done and how disgustingly dirty he'd just done the Detroit Pistons point guard.

And now, thanks to the folks at Jordan endorser Under Armour, you can wear that screwfaced disdain proudly on your chest whenever it's warm out, for the low low price of $27.99 (plus shipping, natch):

Nice. (Image via Under Armour)

Like the Amar'e Stoudemire fire extinguisher T-shirt, this seems like a pretty reasonable sports torture gift for the Pistons fan in your life. Just don't wear it around Knight himself — after a rough couple of weeks, that dude deserves a break, don't you think?

Hat-tip to Andrew Sharp at SB Nation.

You're not going to believe this, but after he spent months trying to force his way out of Central Florida, worked behind the scenes to undermine his coach and general manager, picked up a one-year contract option because he wanted everyone to love him but continued to demand a trade because he really still wanted to leave, skipped out on his own local youth camp before finally making his break for Hollywood, then called his former teammates a bunch of nobodies, Dwight Howard wasn't the most popular guy at Amway Center on Tuesday night.

(Clearly, Orlando Magic fans weren't moved by Howard's recent apology.)

Soon enough, though, there was a more immediate reason for the Orlando faithful to be mad at the Los Angeles Lakers center — even if he's still not back to as healthy and dominant as he was in leading the Magic for eight seasons, he's still pretty damn good, and he was kind of kicking their guys' butts inside.