The Hawks had to finish out Friday night’s in-season tournament loss to the 76ers without De’Andre Hunter.
With 10:27 left in the third quarter at State Farm Arena, officials assessed Hunter with two technical fouls, which resulted in his ejection.
The Hawks forward tried to draw a charge off 76ers center Joel Embiid’s cut to the basket.
The Sixers grabbed the offensive board and went up with the ball with Hunter still laying under the basket. Embiid looked to hit a fadeaway jumper in the lane and fell to the ground. Referees then called Hunter for the foul, his first of the game, and he jumped up to protest the call.
He went over to one of the officials to continue protesting the call and lead official Ben Taylor assessed Hunter with the technical foul. Hunter continued to protest and Taylor eventually tossed him from the game.
Hunter left the game after 18 minutes, with nine points and one rebound.
Following the game, officials provided clarity on what led to Hunter’s ejection.
Here are the responses to the questions to the designated pool reporter:
The pool report interview was conducted by Lauren Williams of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution with crew chief Ben Taylor following the game.
QUESTION: Why was De’Andre Hunter assessed a common foul on Joel Embiid with 10:27 left in the third quarter?
TAYLOR: On that play De’Andre’s on the floor and laying on the floor is not a legal guarding position. So, now if he ends up tripping a player, such as he did with Joel Embiid, it would be a defensive foul.
QUESTION: What was the basis for the first technical on Hunter?
TAYLOR: It was for continued profanity directed toward a game official.
QUESTION: What was the basis for the second technical foul?
TAYLOR: The basis for the second one was after being asked and told to stop the continued profanity; he didn’t and continued and was given a second technical foul and was immediately ejected.
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