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Luke Walton got his money's worth on his 1st ejection as Lakers coach
Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton has a deserved reputation as a pretty even-keeled guy, the sort of coach who bonds with his players instead of yelling to motivate them. That should make sense to anyone who watched him as a player. Walton earned only 12 technical fouls, one flagrant foul, and zero ejections in his 10-season career.
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Walton now has an ejection on his resume, and we’re happy to say he earned it. With roughly 4:30 left in the first quarter of Monday night’s game at Sacramento Kings, DeMarcus Cousins pulled Lakers forward Julius Randle to the ground. Referees neglected to call the fairly clear contact, at which point Walton began to get frustrated. He continued after Kings point guard Darren Collison made a three-pointer from the corner, earning two technicals and an ejection. Take a look:
Walton explained himself after the game:
Walton says he got ejected standing up for his guys.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) December 13, 2016
He certainly did. Randle was pretty clearly the victim of a personal foul (or worse) from Cousins, and it makes sense that his coach would want some protection for a very good player who has already missed three games this season due to injury.
The ejection did not immediately inspire the Lakers. Randle was hit with a technical, as well, and Rudy Gay made all three freebies to tie the game at 17-17. The Kings continued that run to end the first quarter up 31-24. However, the Lakers bounced back to take the second quarter 34-18 and looked in decent position to stop a six-game losing streak.
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It didn’t happen, because the Kings completely dominated the third, out-scoring the visitors 39-13 to essentially end the night. They added to that lead in the fourth on their way to a 116-92 win.
Cousins was the star, putting up 31 points (12-of-21 FG), 16 rebounds, five assists, three blocks, and two steals (and eight turnovers) in a major performance.
He was also totally cool with Walton’s ejection:
Cousins on Walton’s ejection: "It happens. He was angry, he did what he had to do. I’m not mad at it. It helped us out. I’m not mad at it."
— Baxter Holmes (@BaxterHolmes) December 13, 2016
Way to empathize, DeMarcus.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
