Paul George was ejected from a game for the first time in his seven-year career.
With 1:42 left in the third quarter and the Pacers leading the Chicago Bulls 81-61, George was frustrated by a foul call and took it out on the basketball. He kicked the ball, intending to hit the basket stanchion, but it went into the stands.
“Meant to kick the ball against the mat, the stanchion I guess,” George said, showing remorse. “My soccer skills isn’t as good as I thought. I apologized to the beautiful girl I hit. Glad my team was able to pick up this win and me not be at fault for this loss.”
It primarily hit Lindsey, a member of the FOX Sports Indiana crew. The girl sitting next to her told VigilantSports.com that George apologized, asked if they were season-ticket holders, and to write down their address.
“She said she’s fine,” George said. “She’s good.”
Paul George hugged Lindsey before exiting the floor.
Even on accident, that’s a no-no. Official Eric Dalen handed out the ejection.
Official rule from the NBA, in Section V – Conduct: r. Any player who throws or kicks the ball directly into the stands with force, regardless of the reason or where it lands, will be assessed a technical foul and ejected.
[Five takeaways from Pacers’ 111-94 win over Bulls]
“It looked like he got frustrated with the call and kicked the ball,” said head coach Nate McMillan following the team’s 111-94 win. “And whenever you punch or kick a ball [and] it goes into the stands, that’s an automatic ejection.
“Emotions took over in that situation and he knows that’s something he can’t do. That’s an immediate ejection.”
Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins was fined $25,000 last week for throwing his mouthpiece and entering the stands during a game. Stephen Curry, last year’s MVP, was fined $25,000 last postseason for hitting a fan with his mouthpiece.
“Yeah, I’m sure I’ll get a fine,” added George, who finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and two steals in 29 minutes.
After George was tossed, the Pacers scored seven of the final 10 points in the quarter to take a 88-64 lead into the final frame.
“Thankfully he helped us enough to establish that lead and the comfort going into the fourth quarter,” said Myles Turner. “You can obviously never be comfortable with a 20-point lead. It’s the NBA, anything can happen.”
George is the first member of the Pacers to be whistled for a technical foul this season.
“It happened,” he said. “Moving forward from it.”
Pacers' Paul George ejected for kicking ball into stands and hitting fan in face pic.twitter.com/IAmuq1C68h
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) November 6, 2016