Kristaps Porzingis ejected in third quarter of Game 1 vs. Clippers

Dallas Mavericks PF Kristaps Porzingis was ejected after picking up his second technical foul early in the third quarter of Game 1 vs. the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night. It was his first career ejection in his first career NBA Playoff game. Porzingis exits the game after scoring 14 points with 6 rebounds in 20 minutes. This is huge for the Clippers, who blew an early first-quarter lead to Dallas. Here’s some video of the technical foul:

The Mavericks will now have to lean on Luka Doncic, who briefly left the game after injuring his ankle in the first quarter. Maxi Kleber will have to play more minutes at PF along with Dorian Finney-Smith. We could even see some Boban Marjanovic at center.

The two technicals were pretty soft and people are active on Twitter about it. The refereeing in this entire game has been a bit questionable. There were some bad calls in the first half and the refs dished out a couple of quick techs that probably shouldn’t be called in the playoffs. It’s not like this is some big rivalry or something. Things weren’t going to get chippy. Sure, Patrick Beverley is in there, but still.

Former Maverick great Dirk Nowitzki even chimed in!

The King has spoken!