Los Angeles Lakers center Deandre Ayton was ejected from Game 4 in the third quarter, but lead official James Williams was completely wrong on the call. Ayton in no way deserved to be ejected for what was clearly an inadvertent elbow to the head of Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun, and Sengun himself even said after the game that the call was "soft", suggesting that Ayton should not have been tossed.
Ayton also talked about the play after the game, making the good point that although the slow-motion replay made the elbow look malicious, it wasn't intentional. Anyone watching the game in real time noticed that the elbow was accidental.
Lakers' Deandre Ayton explains the play that got him unjustly ejected
"I was really just trying to brace the contact of Sengun, and we're both sweaty guys," Ayton said postgame. "I just slipped off his shoulder and ... my elbow hit him right there above his shoulders. It looked crazy on camera, but I'm not no guy who's a dirty player or plays like that. ... I damn near hurt myself (on the play). I just hope he's alright, and don't think it was intentional. I was just playing hard ... Definitely wasn't intentional. It is my first ejection. Eight years later, and it's my first one."
As mentioned above, James Williams' decision to eject Ayton was 100 percent wrong. Williams made the mistake of getting fooled by the slow-motion instant replay, which made Ayton's elbow look a lot worse than it actually was in real time. Yes, sometimes slow-mo uncovers truths that live action didn't reveal, but the opposite can also be true. If you had watched the slo-mo replay of the Ayton elbow without having ever seen the play transpire at full speed, you would've been wondering if Ayton was intentionally elbowing Sengun.
But anyone who saw the play actually happen at full speed, and anyone who was watching the game and had full context of the situation, would have refrained from ejecting Ayton. For some reason, Williams, who is paid to make the right decision there, completely botched the situation and made himself look like an inadequate referee on a huge stage.
Referee James Williams was absolutely awful in Lakers-Rockets Game 4
Williams later leaned into his inadequacy by ejecting another Lakers player, Adou Thiero, for absolutely no reason at all. Williams basically woke up on the wrong side of the bed on Sunday and decided he was going to eject Lakers players because he felt like it. Suffice to say, the league office won't be thrilled with Williams' performance, which was an embarrassment.
Ayton's ejection instantly destroyed any chance the Lakers had of coming back in Game 4. Deandre was having an awesome game with 19 points and 10 rebounds at the time of his ousting. But LA had plenty of other issues on the night, turnovers and poor shooting being at the top of the list.
Add us as a preferred source on Google