Devin Booker ejected six minutes into game with incredibly quick hook

The referee core denied it postgame, but it was clear to anyone with eyes that in the wake of the Pistons’ Isaiah Stewart punching the Suns’ Drew Eubanks pregame, they were calling this game tight to keep it under control.

It was too tight as Devin Booker was ejected six minutes into the game.

Postgame, Crew Chief Karl Lane said Booker got his first technical foul for excessive complaining after being warned. Then, before play was resumed, Booker was ejected, and here's the video.

Um... that's not demonstrative. That's not showing up the referees. That's thin-skinned officials. Lane was asked about the ejection by a pool reporter.

LANE: "The second technical foul was for disparaging remarks he made towards a game official, and then he was ejected for the second one."

QUESTION: Was it the escalation that warranted the ejection early in the game?

LANE: "The comment that he made met our standards and warranted the technical foul, the second technical foul which led to the ejection."

Suns coach Frank Vogel picked up a technical foul for arguing the ejection. These officials handed out technicals like Halloween candy.

Lane also denied that the referees were not calling the game tighter because of the pregame incident. This is either disingenuous or they were just calling the game extremely tight for no reason, which is just as bad.

It's hard to be a referee and be constantly criticized by players, fans and coaches. There needs to be some sympathy for that and an understanding there are lines not to be crossed. However, there seem to be some officials who enjoy a sense of power a little too much and are quick to throw technicals at players a little too quickly. The officials seem to get wound up too fast. That can lead to one of the players people pay to see being ejected less than six minutes into a game for something that did not warrant it, and that is just bad for the game.

The Suns went on to win 116-100 behind 25 points from Kevin Durant.