With the Lakers down 82-76 at home to the Thunder, Nick Young was ejected early into the fourth quarter for throwing a couple elbows at Steven Adams, one which did strike him in the neck/jaw region.
This inappropriate and self-destructing act was not only caught on national television, but by the officials who ended up calling a flagrant two—unnecessary and excessive action—which resulted in his ejection.
The next day coach Byron Scott commented on Young’s altercation:
Byron still unhappy that Young got ejected last night: “I gave him some words and told him if it happens again what would happen to him.”
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) December 20, 2014
In January of this year, Young was involved in a more serious altercation with Suns’ guard Goran Dragic. This tussle with the Suns was much more vigorous and lead to Young questioning his teammates for not coming to his aid.
After coming off a week where Kobe Bryant lambasted the toughness of the team, it’s good to see Young not backing down to anyone, but at the same time he needs to be smarter. Young’s 14.9 PPG is second on the team, and with Bryant scoring only 9 points on 3-15 from the field the Lakers certainly could have used him late in the game.
After the game, Young called Adams a “sneaky, dirty player” but Adams is no stranger to getting under his opponent’s skin. In game six of the playoffs, Grizzlies’ forward Zach Randolph punched Adams at about mid-court. Randolph was ejected and then later suspended for game seven. The Thunder went on to win that game seven match as Memphis missed the presence of Randolph dearly.
Young is flying with the team to Sacramento to play the Kings on Sunday. No word has been issued yet as to whether or not the league will suspend him.