Atlanta Hawks: Breaking Down The Al Horford Ejection

Down 2-0 in their Eastern Conference Finals series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Game 3 was a must-win game for the Atlanta Hawks. They had already given up home-court advantage, and would need to beat the Cavs four times over the next five games, with three of those games in Cleveland.

While Game 3 was not an elimination game, a 0-3 deficit in the series would be almost impossible to come back from.

The Hawks knew this and they came out fighting. The first quarter was close, and despite LeBron James posting a triple-double, the Hawks were benefiting from James’ poor shooting. The Hawks were up by one with 37 seconds left to go in the first half, when everything fell to pieces.

After a lengthy replay review by the referees, Al Horford was charged with a Flagrant 2 foul, while Matthew Dellavedova received a technical foul. All three officials were unanimous in the decision.

As always, the calls sparked debate and discussion among NBA fans everywhere. Some felt as though the punishment was justified, as it was clear that Horford’s conduct was “unnecessary and excessive” – the exact definition of a “Flagrant 2 foul” under the NBA’s rules and regulations.

However, some felt as though Horford deserved some leniency due to Dellavedova’s actions – while he was tangled up with Horford, Delly seemed as though he meant to fall on Horford’s ankles.

It was clear that the referees agreed that Delly wasn’t completely innocent in the matter, as he received a technical foul as well. This was what the game’s lead official, Ken Mauer had to say about the incident.

The other interesting element to this matter is Dellavedova’s past. He has garnered a bit of a reputation as a “dirty” player, especially after previous incidents involving Taj Gibson and the Hawks’ own Kyle Korver.

The issue with these plays is that when a player goes hard after a loose ball without harming their opponent, he’s deemed a “hustle player.” But when incidental contact occurs, the player is immediately referred to as “dirty.” And many will argue that the increasing regularity of Delly being involved in these sort of incidents is proof that he is a “dirty” player.

But, setting his past aside, let’s take a closer look at the play itself.

Both teams were going after a loose ball, when Horford, Dellavedova and DeMarre Carroll fell to the floor. While battling for the ball, Horford and Dellavedova got tangled up. Delly fell over Carroll, who was already on the floor, and seemed to roll into Horford’s right knee. As a result, Horford fell, cocked back his elbow, and struck Delly above the right shoulder.

The reason for Horford’s retaliation is simple: he felt Delly fall onto his knee, and assumed it was an attempt to hurt him. After all, he had made a similar play in the previous game, which resulted in Korver’s ankle injury.

In an interview with NBA’s David Aldridge, Horford expressed that he should have handled the situation better:

"“In the heat of the moment, I just told [Mauer], ‘Listen, he went after my legs.’ That’s what I said to him. ‘He went after my legs.’ If it was on purpose or not, we don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t on purpose. With his track record, I just felt like it was. Again, on my part, very, very poor for doing that.”"

Up until the ejection, Horford was doing very well. He had 14 points, and four rebounds, and was 7-of-10 from the floor. Because of his ejection, the Hawks had to rely more on Mike Scott and Mike Muscala – who was on the receiving end of this posterizing dunk from LeBron.

But if you watch the incident again, you can see that Horford is holding on to Delly’s arms. Both players have their arms locked and Delly, being the smaller player, has little to no balance. He trips over Carroll, is being pulled away by Horford, and ends up falling on Horford’s knee.

Dellavedova doesn’t deserve the title of being a “dirty player,” despite being involved in several of these types of plays. What he needs to work on is being more aware of his surroundings, and trying to avoid being in circumstances like these. He works hard, hustles for the ball, and has to compensate for his lack of skill by playing hard. He’s the sort of player a coach wants on his team, but for the sake of his career and reputation, he has to stop involving himself in these types of plays.

And despite the bad blood, Horford sums this up perfectly.

"“He’s a player who plays hard. We’re out there competing, but he’s got to learn. He’s only been in this league for a couple of years or whatever, but he’s got to learn that, at the end of the day, it’s a big brotherhood here. Guys look out for each other. I don’t think it was malicious, but he’s got to learn.”"

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