There was no shortage of key moments during Thursday’s hard-fought encounter between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Indiana Pacers. One that absolutely stands out, though, is Milwaukee head coach Adrian Griffin’s ejection in the third quarter of the game.
Coach Griff got himself tossed after arguing with the game officials over a non-call on Giannis Antetokounmpo. Without their head coach in the picture, Milwaukee would go on to lose in heartbreaking fashion, 126-124.
League Explains Ejection of Milwaukee Bucks Coach Adrian Griffin
The official pool report from the game officials was released shortly after the final buzzer. Crew Chief Kevin Cutler shed light on Griffin’s ejection in the third quarter:
“The first technical foul was for an overt reaction to a non-call on Giannis Antetokounmpo,” Cutler said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “The second was for disrespecting an official with profanity and per rule, two technical fouls, that is an automatic ejection.”
Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin has been ejected. #FearTheDeer | #NBA pic.twitter.com/GPGHFRNYs1
— Bally Sports Wisconsin (@BallySportWI) November 10, 2023
I’m not entirely sure if Bucks fans are going to love that explanation from the refs.
It was two quick techs in the same sequence that led to Griffin’s ejection. Either he had some truly unsavory words to say to the refs or he just really wanted to get tossed.
It could be both too, considering how Coach Griff said before the game that he felt he needed to protect Giannis more.
Talk about delivering on your promise, right?
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1 Comment
What’s baffling is that the coaching was so bad (conservative) after he left (and he’s not been great this year).
AJJ was a total dog on D for 5 minutes in the first half, his first non garbage time. Despite 2 fouls being his only stat line, the team was +7 in his time on the court. He and Marjon are the future, a pair of exceptional, athletic, rangy defenders. PatC has lost a step, Beas is just bad, and Dame is the worst in the league. You can’t keep up with Mathurin/Halliburton and other big guard combos in the league unless you adapt and develop your own athletic and big guards.
Yet somehow, AJJ never came into the game in the second half.
Marjon is almost equally baffling. He came in for ONE MINUTE and had 2 REBs (one wrongly not credited to him), a STL, an AST (and Pat missed a wide open shot from one of his passes, whereupon he was pulled). He did miss a 3, but it was a good look. He was all over the court on D and hustle plays in that minute. And he’d had a good first half.
Tired of seeing bad players like Beas and Cam out there, along with a somewhat washed up PatC when these guys are languishing on the bench.
Prunty did an awful job, even though Giannis was really awful in the last 5 and is not a closer.