Austin Rivers ejected for fake elbow at Lance Stephenson

Denver Nuggets guard Austin Rivers' ejection on Wednesday night was extremely weak. Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Nuggets' Austin Rivers got ejected for throwing fake elbow at Pacers' Lance Stephenson

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated 3/30/22

Austin Rivers’ ejection on Wednesday night against the Indiana Pacers was even softer than Charmin.

The Denver Nuggets guard was tossed in the fourth quarter for an incident with Pacers swingman Lance Stephenson. Rivers’ offense? He threw a fake elbow at Stephenson. That’s right, a fake elbow that did not even connect.

Take a look.

Austin Rivers got a tech and was ejected for faking an elbow at Lance Stephenson. pic.twitter.com/oLlV2jAm4W

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) March 31, 2022

Here is another angle of the truly heinous act.

Austin Rivers got ejected for 'throwing an elbow' in Lance Stephenson's face. Upon replay, Rivers didn't hit Stephenson.

Good or bad call on this ejection? pic.twitter.com/iq7kCVojq6

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 31, 2022

Referee crew chief Tony Brothers was the one who hit Rivers with the technical foul and subsequent ejection. To make matters even worse, the officials took time to review the incident and still upheld Rivers’ ejection.

The Nuggets held on to win the game 125-118. But that still does not excuse by far the weakest ejection of the entire NBA season, especially for a referee like Brothers who has a long history of making questionable decisions.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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