A seemingly unremarkable ejection during Tuesday's night's NBA action has taken on new meaning -- at least on social media.
Mavericks guard Spencer Dinwiddie was tossed from his team's game against Golden State after he was slapped with a Flagrant 2 foul for elbowing Warriors guard Jordan Poole in the chops.
While Dinwiddie undoubtedly committed at least a flagrant 1, defined as "unnecessary" contact, it was less clear whether the infraction rose to the level of a flagrant 2, which stipulates the contact is both unnecessary and "excessive."
This distinction is somewhat ambiguous, but for what it's worth Dinwiddie's elbow on Poole did not appear intentional.
Many users on social media disagreed with the flagrant 2 verdict right away:
But it didn't end there.
Dinwiddie's ejection came on the same day that NBA insider Marc Stein reported veteran referee Tony Brothers had been benched, with pay, for one game after Dinwiddie recently claimed that Brothers referred to him as a "bitch-ass motherf---er" to a Mavericks teammate during a game against the Toronto Raptors on Nov. 4.
Neither the NBA nor Brothers officially commented on Dinwiddie's allegation, in keeping with league policy.
But Stein's report would seem to confirm that the league had confirmed the incident.
The timing of Dinwiddie's ejection and Stein's report about Brothers had many conspiracy-minded users drawing conclusions about the officials possibly getting revenge on a player who had hit out at one of their own.
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