Deandre Ayton was ejected in the third quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ Game 4 loss to the Houston Rockets after appearing to elbow Alperen Sengun in the head on the latter’s drive to the basket.
Ayton was called for a foul on the play and after a review, the officials gave him a Flagrant 2, meaning he had to hit the showers early. The elbow appeared to be accidental as there wasn’t much intent behind it, which Ayton confirmed after the game when he gave his vantage point of the play.
“I was really just trying to brace for contact with Sengun. We’re both sweaty guys and I just slipped off his shoulder. Literally, my elbow hit him right there above his shoulders,” Ayton said.
“It looked crazy on camera, but I’m not no guy who’s a dirty player or plays like that. If anything, me trying to play dirty, I damn near hurt myself. I just hope he’s already and didn’t think it was intentional. I was just playing hard and my elbow slipped up and got him above the shoulders and it looked crazy on camera. The outcome of what the results were, I accept it. Definitely wasn’t intentional. I don’t play like that… It’s my first ejection. There you go. Eight years later, it’s my first one.”
The ejection was especially unfortunate because Ayton was in the midst of his best game of the series, leading the Lakers with 19 points and 10 rebounds on 9-of-12 shooting in 25 minutes. He was their only real source of offense for most of the night with a lot of other Lakers players struggling.
While L.A.likely wouldn’t have won the game regardless, the possibility went completely out the window once Ayton got kicked out. The Lakers still have a 3-1 series lead though, so they will look to close it out in Game 5 on Wednesday night back at Crypto.com Arena.
LeBron James defends Deandre Ayton
A lot of Ayton’s teammates and coaches came to his defense after Game 4, including LeBron James.
“I know what I saw,” James said. “I think he was embracing for Sengun on the post-up, elbow getting ready for the physical contact and then obviously if you see it, his arm slipped and then hit him going up on the head. The refs said they didn’t see it that way and they made the call. You gotta be pretty damn good to just completely elbow someone like that on purpose.”
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