NBA Twitter reacts to Thunder’s Lu Dort getting ejected for elbowing Cavs’ Kevin Love
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During the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 94-87 loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday, Lu Dort got into a bit of a flutter with Kevin Love in the fourth quarter. During a tie-up for a loose ball with Darius Garland, Dort swung his arms to untangle himself. As he did that, Love was near him and got accidentally elbowed by Dort.
Dort and Love would start chatting it up and needed to be separated by their teammates. This included Josh Giddey, who got hit in the face by Love.
The referees would review the play and rule a flagrant two on Dort. This means that Dort would be ejected for the rest of the game and finished the night with 10 points in 32 minutes.
Now, according to the official rulebook, the NBA defines a flagrant two as an “unnecessary and excessive contact committed by a player against an opponent.” I’m not a referee, but looking at multiple replays, it looks like Dort’s elbow was unintentional and barely landed on Love’s upper torso.
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said that he did not think the swing was malicious and said he would have understood if the referees ruled it a flagrant one but did not necessarily agree with the flagrant two ruling.
Now in my opinion, I did not think the hit was excessive at all. Could it have been a flagrant one? Sure. But a flagrant two? I have a hard time seeing that. And it appears that a lot of Thunder Twitter agreed with my sentiment:
DORT EJECTED for this flagrant 2 on Kevin Love. 😳😳 pic.twitter.com/7KEmzSFQ4h
— House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) January 23, 2022
How far back Kevin Love’s head flew back when his shoulder was grazed by Lu Dort’s elbow vs how Josh Giddey’s head stayed still when hit in the face by Kevin Love’s fist. pic.twitter.com/1M5TeB4Yin
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) January 23, 2022
also watched Cle-OKC this morning. Thought the Dort ejection was ridiculous, should have just been a tech. Cavs running out of players, hope Lauri is okay. Thunder need to run more Jerome-Diakite lineups #wahoowa
— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) January 23, 2022
This is Lu Dort’s villain origin story.
— Thunder Film Room (@ThunderFilmRoom) January 23, 2022
SGA on Dort ejection: "Lu's obviously not a dirty player. I don't think Lu would ever try to elbow someone in the face."
Still baffled how refs didn't see the obvious: Dort pulled the ball from Garland. Didn't see Love. Ironically, Love hit Giddey in the face seconds later. Lol
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) January 23, 2022
Kevin Love vs Lu Dort: pic.twitter.com/ZpV22YXXdc
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) January 23, 2022
So Kevin Love, every Cleveland Cavaliers fan in attendance and the refs think Lu Dort has eyes in the back of his head?
I mean, yeah, he plays defense like he does, but he doesn't literally.
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) January 23, 2022
What the heck is Kevin Love going to do against Lu Dort? Give me a break
— Rylan Stiles (@Rylan_Stiles) January 23, 2022
Didn’t expect this one to get chippy. Kevin Love took issue with Dort, and then Giddey joined the party. Only caught the end. pic.twitter.com/RrzJ0NVjFC
— Joe Mussatto (@joe_mussatto) January 23, 2022
How on earth do you eject Lu Dort for that?
— Rylan Stiles (@Rylan_Stiles) January 23, 2022
That's an all-time dumb ejection.
Lu Dort kicked out of the game for not being omniscient.
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) January 23, 2022
From my view Lu Dort didn't hit anyone and just ripped the ball free? Looked like his elbow was about half a foot away from Love.
— Jacob Kniffen (@JacobKniffen) January 23, 2022
Biggest takeaway from Dort-Love dust up is that Giddy is huge. pic.twitter.com/w7uzhNejfE
— Russillo (@ryenarussillo) January 23, 2022
— Stan SGA Boomer Sooner (Hunter Harjo) (@hunterharjo7) January 23, 2022
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