Social-media reaction to Giannis Antetokounmpo ejection saw the same thing: 'How does this happen?'
National writers — and some local ones — were pretty much in lockstep with fans during the Milwaukee Bucks game against Detroit on Wednesday, when Giannis Antetokounmpo was assessed a second technical and ejected for staring down an opponent after a dunk.
Of course, even the description of "staring down an opponent" is a little bit of a reach.
Too bad you @bucks can’t use a coach’s challenge on this crap. @Giannis_An34 glared at him momentarily, so what… pic.twitter.com/62ADiL4IBa
— Elder Marques Johnson (@olskool888) November 9, 2023
The ejection near the end of the third quarter drew the ire of Bucks fans, and it got worse when Detroit surged into the lead. It took a massive fourth quarter from Damian Lillard to help Milwaukee leave Fiserv Forum with a win.
And while it's true Giannis did quickly flash the "too small gesture," a league-wide phenomenon that ESPN.com coincidentally wrote about Thursday with Antetokounmpo portrayed in the story, it was hardly an act of aggressive taunting.
"After the dunk Giannis turns to his opponent and taunts him and a taunting technical foul was called, an unsportsmanlike," official Rodney Mott told a pool reporter after the game. "And he was ejected from the game, per rule, because two unsportsmanlike technical fouls, you are ejected from the game."
Needless to say, not everyone found it as cut and dried as Mott.
What in the world are we doing here? How does this happen? https://t.co/ULGgjkCzNX
— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) November 9, 2023
And then the referees smugness to not even look at Giannis https://t.co/xN0Cf6wqqU
— Sam Dekker (@dekker) November 9, 2023
Giannis Antetokounmpo was just ejected for…mean mugging following a dunk.
A superstar showing the kind of emotion that makes him beloved by the fans who paid to see him tonight.
How does this happen?
pic.twitter.com/HtPaZuS1XA— Stephen Watson (@SWatsonTV) November 9, 2023
This call is driving me crazy
You have a league-wide problem with stars playing enough, and then you decide to kick Giannis out for playing with emotion... an out of this world dumb decision from Twardoski and I hope he hears about it. https://t.co/EiL61wB9r1— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) November 9, 2023
You just got a technical for posting this
— Nathan Marzion (@nathanmarzion) November 9, 2023
You can’t tell players to embrace emotion during the regular season and do this. Maybe the ref didn’t realize Giannis had a tech. Who cares. Ejections should be reviewed pic.twitter.com/qhY7ULzfXW
— Vincent Goodwill (@VinceGoodwill) November 9, 2023
Mitchell Ervin, the official that threw out Giannis here, let Draymond berate him for several minutes on Friday night in OKC. The inconsistency of NBA officiating has been glaring this season. https://t.co/UbLWIYEWEh
— Andrew Schlecht (@AndrewKSchlecht) November 9, 2023
How the NBA wants Giannis to react after murdering someone in the paint https://t.co/v24sO7Rjh2 pic.twitter.com/7CQ0cgE5GR
— 🦌 𝘚𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘩 🦌 (@SwooshSzn) November 9, 2023
They ejected Giannis on this lady’s 101st bday pic.twitter.com/qZHHx6hoUa
— mitch ryan (@mitch8ryan) November 9, 2023
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Giannis' ejection gets social media fired up: 'How does this happen?'
