Suns center Mason Plumlee and Rockets center Steven Adams were ejected from Wednesday’s game in the second quarter following a confrontation that ended with both players falling to the floor as players and coaches attempted to pull them apart, as Tim MacMahon of ESPN details.
Plumlee and Adams were battling for rebounding position on a Jalen Green shot attempt when they initially got tangled up. The two big men remained entangled with one another as they began walking back up the court, resulting in Plumlee attempting to shove Adams away and then briefly scuffling with the Rockets center before landing on him as both players hit the floor (Twitter video link via Bleacher Report).
Plumlee said he was making a point of aggressively boxing out his frontcourt counterpart in an attempt to match Houston’s physicality.
“He goes for every rebound and he does it whether it’s dirty or not,” Plumlee said, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (Twitter video link). “I just felt like they were being more physical than us. I just made a point to hit him on the glass.”
After reviewing the play, referee crew chief Tony Brothers announced that Plumlee and Adams had been assessed double technical fouls and had been ejected. After the game, he explained the decision to pool reporter Kelly Iko of The Athletic.
“Their aggressive actions were considered a fight, and by rule, fighting technical fouls carry a penalty of automatic ejection,” Brothers said.
While it’s certainly possible that both Plumlee and Adams will be hit with fines as a result of their confrontation, the skirmish is unlikely to warrant any suspensions, especially since both players already missed over half of Wednesday’s game as a result of their ejections. Both head coaches suggested after the game that they were surprised by that ruling.
“There wasn’t much,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said, according to McMahon. “Steven could do a lot more if he was really trying to wrestle. It looked like they got in a little bear hug and fell down. I thought that would maybe be a technical at best. Surprised they were ejected.”
“It’s just two guys getting tangled up. Both physical, both competitors,” Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said (Twitter video link via Rankin). “… It’d be nice if they just probably give them both a technical and they both stayed in the game.”
The Suns, who were missing usual starting center Nick Richards due to an ankle issue, had to lean on rookie Oso Ighodaro following Plumlee’s ejection. Ighodaro played nearly 18 second-half minutes and logged 28 minutes for the game, his highest total in two months, as Phoenix fell to Houston and dropped to 30-36 on the season.
Def something suspicious here, that they’d eject the players. Odd…