Pacers’ Roy Hibbert ejected for flagrant foul-2 on Wolves’ Gorgui Dieng
Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert was ejected from Tuesday night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves after receiving a flagrant foul-2 for dragging Wolves big man Gorgui Dieng to the floor to prevent a shot attempt.
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The incident took place just past the halfway point of the third quarter, with the Pacers leading 64-57 after a Dieng goaltend on a Hibbert putback attempt gave the Georgetown product 10 points on the evening. As the action made its way to the other end, Dieng got Hibbert to elevate on a pump-fake, and the 7-foot-2 Hibbert descended, he reached out with his left arm to pull Dieng down, keeping him from attempting a reverse lay-in:
Dieng hit the floor awkwardly, and so hard that he bounced off the hardwood at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. After reviewing the play, the referees determined that Hibbert’s actions merited a flagrant-2, carrying with it an automatic ejection. He finished the game with 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting, eight rebounds, one block and one assist in just under 21 minutes of work.
On one hand, you could argue that this was perhaps an unfortunate call against Hibbert, who didn’t necessarily seem to have ill intentions when he came down and hooked Dieng. On the other, though, grabbing a hold of someone (even someone as big as Dieng) and bringing them down to the ground represents a pretty dangerous play when you’re 7-foot-2 and about 280 pounds, and given the way Dieng hit the ground, you can understand the officials considering Hibbert’s foul to constitute “unnecessary and excessive” contact, meriting the flagrant-2, prompting the automatic heave-ho. It also carries with it a fine of no less than $2,000, but “not exceeding $50,000 and/or suspension by the Commissioner,” so it remains to be seen whether Adam Silver’s office will decide that Hibbert’s pull-down was reckless enough to necessitate additional discipline for Hibbert.
Dieng, thankfully, appeared to be fine after the fact, staying in the game to make his flagrant-foul free throws and finishing the contest, putting up 10 points on 3-for-7 shooting to go with 10 rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks in nearly 38 minutes. Without Hibbert to patrol the paint and captain the Indiana defense, the Wolves outscored Indiana 53-37 over the final 17 minutes and 47 seconds, notching a 110-101 victory behind a shocking 52-point explosion by guard Mo Williams — a career high for the 12-year veteran, a new franchise-high mark for the Wolves, and the most an opposing player has ever scored against the Pacers at the Fieldhouse — to snap Minnesota’s 15-game losing streak.
The Pacers’ frustration was clear by game’s end, with team talisman David West getting ejected for picking up two technical fouls arguing an offensive foul call with 28 seconds left and head coach Frank Vogel earning himself a T in the process. You can kind of understand why Indy was so ticked off, if only at itself; as if becoming a footnote in Mo Williams history isn’t depressing enough, the Pacers have now dropped consecutive contests to teams with sub-.200 winning percentages, with Tuesday’s defeat coming on the heels of Saturday’s one-point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. That’s got to hurt even worse than being yanked down by Big Roy.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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