On Monday, Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert was ejected in the 101-92 loss against the Toronto Raptors. The Jazz’s center was not happy about being tossed in the final seconds of the game.
Gobert and the Raptors’ forward OG Anunoby were thrown out with 40.6 seconds left after a physical altercation with each other. They received double technicals and had to be separated by teammates. As Gobert ran down the court after a Jazz turnover late in the fourth quarter, he and Raptors forward exchanged some shoves and words, eventually causing a stoppage in play once the Raptors set up offensively.
Utah’s center accused Anunoby of elbowing him in the face in a post-game interview then called out the referees.
“Anunoby tried to elbow me in the face. And the guy that’s getting paid to protect the other players didn’t do his job,” Gobert said, referring to the officials. “There was a little altercation, and we both got ejected when I didn’t do anything back, pretty much, which I don’t understand.”
Gobert said that he will take matters into his own hands and earn his next ejection.
“I don’t think it makes sense to me. But next time, I’ll do justice myself so the official can eject me for a reason,” Gobert told reporters.
Gobert’s frustration had been mounting throughout the night, as he was charged with fouls when he felt that they were unearned, including picking up two in a 13-second span midway through the fourth quarter, his fourth and fifth of the night. The Raptors are known as a team that plays a physical brand of basketball. This was shown on Monday’s game when the Raptors were able to frustrate many of the Jazz players and bully their way to a rebounded advantage of 53-34 and draw 20 fouls while going 16 of 18 from the free-throw line.
“That’s kind of what they do. They’re definitely the most consistent team at playing that way, being aggressive and being the first one to hit you,” Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles said after a 20-point performance.
Gobert finished with six points and four rebounds in 32 minutes. Anunoby had seven points and five rebounds on Monday.
