Warriors' Andre Iguodala ejected for 'hostile act' after throwing ball into stands

ByNick Friedell ESPN logo
Sunday, December 30, 2018

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Golden State Warriors swingman Andre Iguodala was ejected from Saturday night's 115-105 win over the Portland Trail Blazers for a "hostile act" after he tossed the ball about 20 rows into the stands after the buzzer sounded at the end of the first half.

Iguodala was assessed a technical foul and was ejected after a video review by officials.

The sequence in question occurred after Iguodala tried to gain control of the ball as the final seconds of the first half rolled off the clock. Iguodala was unable to corral the ball until the buzzer sounded and the lights on the floor went off. After an extra second, he got the ball and flung it about 20 rows deep into the stands in frustration.

The Warriors left the floor and headed to the locker room as Blazers coaches argued with the officials about Iguodala's play. Officials went over to the monitor to review the play and decided to eject Iguodala.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr wasn't surprised that Iguodala was ejected.

"If you throw something into the stands -- a mouthpiece, a ball or whatever -- you get ejected," Kerr said. "I guess the distinction the officials had to make was, was that a shot? Was he just throwing the ball toward the hoop at the end of the half? Was it out of frustration? And they deemed it was out of frustration."

Kerr then jokingly said he didn't think it was out of frustration.

"I've seen Andre take half-court shots, and he's never close at all ... so I know that was just Andre's half-court shot," Kerr said.

Kerr noted that Iguodala was a little surprised about the ejection. Kerr said he heard about the ejection from Raymond Ridder, the Warriors senior vice president of communications, in the locker room.

"Nobody knew what happened," Warriors forward Draymond Green said. "[Iguodala] just said: 'I was trying to shoot the ball. Nobody knows my depth perception.' So I don't know."

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