Watch: Luka Doncic and Jason Kidd both get ejected
The Mavericks were having a bad night against the short-handed Timberwolves. Then two quick ejections made it much worse.
Luka Doncic got frustrated by a no-call on Jaden McDaniels and yelled at the officials. That got him a quick technical foul, and whatever he said in response to get T'ed up got him an immediate second T.
Doncic appeared baffled, while his coach appeared baffled and also furious. Jason Kidd also got two technicals and a quick ejection from arguing an ejection. Anthony Edwards made all four technical foul shots, Minnesota went up by 20 points, and the game was effectively over.
Luka acknowledged that his first technical was fair, but thought the second was too hasty.
For his part, Kidd didn't comment, or take questions, telling reporters, "I already gave up money, so I don’t want to give up any more. Thanks for showing up."
Excessive arguing and the subsequent technical fouls are one of Doncic's few weaknesses. In both 2020-21 and 2021-22, Doncic finished with 15 technicals, one short of 16 and an automatic one-game suspension. He only avoided the suspension after the NBA rescinded a T each season, which they also did last week.
Now Doncic is up to seven on the season, and clearly he has a reputation with officials where he isn't getting a lot of slack. Clearly Doncic was frustrated with the defense of McDaniels - he scored only four points on McDaniels all night.
McDaniels might be the one player who can shut down Doncic. Of course, no one can take him out of the game like a referee with a quick whistle.
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