Blazers’ C.J. McCollum ejected after flagrant foul on Utah’s Gordon Hayward
Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum was ejected from Monday night’s preseason game against the Utah Jazz after committing a flagrant foul-2 on Jazz swingman Gordon Hayward.
The foul came with just under 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and the Jazz trailing by four:
After picking off a pass by Blazers wing Allen Crabbe, Hayward raced out in transition, looking for an easy bucket that would cut Portland’s lead to two. McCollum gave chase, catching Hayward from behind as he prepared to jump and trying to swipe at the ball to prevent a shot attempt. He wasn’t able to get the strip or keep Hayward on the ground, though, and as the Butler product elevated, McCollum pulled him down with his left arm and Hayward landed hard on the baseline, much to the chagrin of the Utah faithful.
After a replay review, the officials slapped McCollum with a flagrant-2 for “unnecessary and excessive” contact, prompting an automatic ejection. The third-year guard out of Lehigh — who started in place of star point guard Damian Lillard, who’s been sidelined by a sore left ankle — finished with 16 points on dismal 6-for-21 shooting, with seven rebounds, five assists and five turnovers in 33 minutes of work.
[The BDL 25: The key storylines to watch this NBA season]
Thankfully, Hayward popped up quickly, split his free throws and remained in the game. He finished with 10 points on equally dismal 3-for-15 shooting to go with three rebounds, an assist and a steal in 33 1/2 minutes as Utah fell 88-81.
It can be tough to gauge intent in situations like these — from this seat, it seemed like McCollum did go after the ball rather than aiming to harm, for whatever it’s worth — but whatever the Blazer was going for, he did make contact with Hayward above the shoulder and yank him down to the court, a dangerous play for which he got the gate.
“You have to respect the call the refs make,” McCollum said after the game, according to Cody Sharrett of the Blazers’ official website. “I didn’t think it was Flagrant 2-worthy. I looked at the replay and it looked like I might’ve got him by the shoulder a little bit, which is an automatic flagrant. I didn’t try to, I was just trying to prevent a layup. It’s unfortunate, I’m glad he wasn’t hurt. I’m just trying to move forward, continue to play. I was just trying to prevent him from going up. Things happen.”
[Follow Dunks Don’t Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]
Whether anything else happens as a result of McCollum’s left-handed takedown remains to be seen. All flagrants are reported to the league, and after-the-fact discipline is possible. For now, let’s remember that it is preseason, and try to keep things chill, civil and healthy, at least until we get to the games that count later this month.
– – – – – – –
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!
Stay connected with Ball Don’t Lie on Twitter @YahooBDL, “Like” BDL on Facebook and follow Dunks Don’t Lie on Tumblr for year-round NBA talk, jokes and more.
