Draymond Green was not surprised to be on the wrong end of a controversial call on Saturday as the Golden State Warriors forward was ejected from a 118-110 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Green was ejected in the third quarter of the game for two technical fouls, having been involved in a heated altercation with Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell with the Warriors already 10 points behind.
The four-time NBA champion forced Mitchell out of bounds with his shoulder, prompting the Cavs guard to chase him down and confront him moments later.
The players were separated but Green was subsequently penalised for his second technical of the game, with a review showing he elbowed Mitchell a couple of plays earlier.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr questioned the decision after the game, being unaware that the officials could call such a foul retroactively.
"I had never heard this rule, but apparently you can retroactively call a technical from two plays before upon review," Kerr said.
"There's a lot of plays I'd like to go back to from three years ago. It was bizarre."
Green's dismissal was his first of the season and the 17th of his NBA career (including playoff games), the most of any active player.
The 33-year-old believes his reputation played a part in the call, saying: "I am the same person that got suspended from the NBA Finals for flagrant fouls that were all called from after the game.
"Nothing surprises me."
The Warriors briefly rallied after Green's exit, outscoring Cleveland 31-16 in the third, though they were unable to sustain their momentum and fell to back-to-back defeats.
It meant Stephen Curry ended on the losing side despite reaching the milestone of 22,000 career NBA points, becoming the 35th player – and fifth active player – to do so with his game-high return of 30 points.
The two-time NBA MVP lamented the Warriors' slow start after the loss, saying: "It's a small sample size, but [we're] starting to set a pattern of getting off slow, and it's a problem we have to correct.
"But we're competitors. Holding them to 16 in the third shows we have it in us. We just have to do it and execute and come up with a better edge to start games."
Curry and his team are back in action on Sunday as the Minnesota Timberwolves visit Chase Center, and he is determined for them to respond and make their home advantage count.
"Just because we are home doesn't mean you just show up and win," Curry said.
"We usually respond well to this type of feeling when you lose, understanding what it takes to execute the details of our game plan against a certain team.
"That'll be the challenge for tomorrow, especially for that starting unit, to get off to a good start."
'That wasn't Pistons basketball' – Williams slams lack of fight after Wizards loss
Detroit Pistons head coach Monty Williams hit out at his team's lack of fight and said they were failing to honour the franchise's jersey after they slipped to a 14th consecutive defeat on Monday.
The Pistons suffered another heavy loss at Little Caesars Arena as the Washington Wizards claimed a 126-107 win, Kyle Kuzma leading the way with 32 points and 12 rebounds.
While Washington ended their own nine-game losing streak, Detroit now have the worst record in the league after slipping to 2-15, losing three of their last four games by at least 19 points.
In a post-game media appearance lasting just one minute, Williams accused his team of failing to compete while acknowledging he is ultimately responsible for turning things around.
"That wasn't fight on the floor. That wasn't Pistons basketball by any stretch of the imagination," Williams said.
"That's what this is, we have to have people that honour the organisation and the jersey by competing at a high level every night. I'm not talking about execution, just competing. That wasn't it, and that's on me."
Asked what needs to improve as the Pistons prepare to face LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday, Williams added: "It's just a level of growing up on this team, maturity, understanding what game-plan discipline is. All the stuff we talk about all the time. It's enough talking."
Guard Cade Cunningham echoed his coach's thoughts, saying the team needed to improve physically.
"We all want to win really bad," Cunningham said. "Everybody's doing it out of the spirit of that; wanting to win, wanting to do what's best for the team.
"I think we need more aggressive mess-ups. Where we're struggling right now is slip-ups where we're not physical enough or not aggressive enough. That's what we need to lean towards instead of trying not to press.
"We play great stretches, and then we've had crazy bad stretches where we dig ourselves in too deep of a hole.
"That's it right there, it's just holding each other accountable and when we do feel it start to slip, having the mental stamina to stay together, stay connected."
Like father, like son – Shaqueel van Persie makes Youth League debut
Robin van Persie handed a UEFA Youth League debut to his son Shaqueel for Feyenoord on Tuesday.
Van Persie, the former Arsenal and Manchester United star, is now coaching Feyenoord's Under-18s team and the Under-19s team.
And while taking charge of the latter side in the Youth League, Van Persie handed his son Shaqueel his debut in the competition as a 56th-minute substitute against Atletico Madrid.
Van Persie junior could not help his father's team avoid defeat, however, with Iker Luque scoring the only goal of the game in the 81st minute.
Shaqueel the real deal?
Shaqueel van Persie made his European debut five years and 104 days after his father last played in a European match for Feyenoord, where he finished his career.
The 17-year-old, who was born during Van Persie's stint at Arsenal, began his youth career with Manchester City before moving to Feyenoord in 2017, a year before his father joined the same club.
He has already represented the Netherlands at Under-16 and Under-17 level.
LeBron James shrugs off minutes milestone after suffering heaviest career defeat
No player in NBA history has spent more minutes on the court than LeBron James, but the latest record means nothing to the Los Angeles Lakers star.
That is because it came in what was James' heaviest career defeat – a 138-94 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday.
In his 21-year NBA career, James' previous worst loss came by 42 points in a 136-94 reverse to the Indiana Pacers in February 2019.
As Joel Embiid racked up 30 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in the Sixers' rout, James accumulated another 30 minutes on the court.
That took his career total, across both regular season and postseason games, to 66,319 minutes in his career, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 66,297 minutes.
But the record was of little solace to the 38-year-old, who told reporters: "That doesn't mean much to me."
Asked about what the Lakers need to do to ensure heavy defeats do not become a common occurrence, James said: "What needs to change in order for that not to happen again? Um, a lot.
"I don't know how a team [should respond]. I can only speak for myself, and I don't like it."
James' teammate Anthony Davis said: "Feel like we just weren't together. A lot of quick shots, one-pass shots, no-pass shots.
"They started making a lot of shots. And when their lead kind of opened up a little bit – 15, 20, 25 – I think we all tried to be the hero to make the team come back instead of just sticking with it.
"We've got to look at it, embrace it, own it. Guys don't take it personally for whatever's said in the film, and then move on from it."
It was a bad day for both Los Angeles teams, with the Clippers also losing.
They went down 104-113 to a Denver Nuggets team that was shorn of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon.
Former Laker Russell Westbrook became embroiled in a debate with a fan.
"I mean, it's unfortunate," Westbrook said.
"Fans think they can say whatever they want. I'm not going to say [what was said] now because it's not appropriate, but I'm just protecting myself.
"It's just unfortunate fans think they can get away with saying anything and, personally, I won't allow it. I've [taken] a lot of people saying anything and getting away with it, but I won't stand for it."
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