Center Tristan Thompson of the Cleveland Cavaliers has been fined with a sum of $25,000 as he failed to leave the court on time and shoved a ball in the face of Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green in the Thursday night’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals, after he was ejected automatically for a flagrant foul 2. The NBA released a press release on Friday in which it states that it has decided to downgrade the flagrant foul 2 to a flagrant foul one upon league office review.
With just five minutes remaining in the Thursday’s game, the Warriors were up by eight points, but there were 2.5 seconds left on the shot clock. It was then that guard Shaun Livingston took a midrange jumper and Thompson contested the shot. However, his elbow appeared to come in contact with Livingston’s chest, though the replays still did not make it clear on whether Thompson made contact.
A flagrant foul two was called by the official Tony Brothers immediately, which results in an automatic ejection.
After the Warriors 124-114 victory in overtime, Thompson said, “I contested a shot that shouldn’t have been taken.”
“I mean, it’s like the unspoken rule in the NBA: If you’re up 10 or 11 with about 20 seconds left, you don’t take that shot. I make the contest, and next thing I know, I was being kicked out for a good contest that we learn in training camp. I don’t know why I got thrown out,” he further said.
When Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue was asked about the incident, he said that he was confident the NBA would take a fair decision in its review. Lue said on Friday, “Haven’t heard anything yet, but I know the league will do the right thing.”
