New York Knicks power forward Bobby Portis was ejected from Tuesday night's game in Los Angeles for swatting Lakers shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as he attempted a layup.
It happened in the second quarter as Caldwell-Pope was ahead of the field on a breakaway layup attempt. Portis was hustling back on defense realized that he was a little behind the play, so he took his right arm and made a desperate attempt to smack the ball out of KCP's hands.
Portis missed the ball completely, but his arm caught KCP on the side of the head.
Bobby Portis ejected after smacking KCP across the head... pic.twitter.com/Ju1aoNDXBP— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 8, 2020
Caldwell-Pope was able to return to the game after being checked for a concussion by the Lakers medical staff.
After the game, Portis apologized for the play, insisting it was an accident. The video seems to back that up, as it was an all-out attempt to play defense by Portis. However, given what the worst case scenario could have been, you can understand why the officials gave Portis a flagrant 2.
In the end, the Lakers blew out the Knicks 117-87.
[LBS]