Amen Thompson’s intention was simply to stop Giannis Antetokounmpo from getting an easy dunk at the rim. How it played out, however, was much nastier.
Thompson was ejected for this foul and after the game his own coach, Ime Udoka, agreed with the call. Crew Chief Tony Brothers was asked to explain the decision to eject Thompson by a pool reporter postgame and said, “Because the contact to the head was both unnecessary and excessive and by rule that’s a flagrant foul penalty two.”
The person most forgiving after the game was Antetokounmpo.
“At the end of the day like you don’t want to have a league that’s soft,” Antetokounmpo said, via the Associated Press. “I love guys that play hard. I love guys that they’re great competitors…
“I’m one of those guys. Sometimes your competitive nature gets in the way [of] making the best decision, the best judgment at the time. And I feel like he wanted to make it a hard foul, but he grabbed my neck. But there’s no hard feelings.”
Houston held on to win the game 100-97, behind 25 points from Jalen Green and 23 points and 11 boards from Alperen Sengun. Antetokounmpo finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds.
