Milwaukee’s four-game winning streak came to an end on Tuesday night, as Houston fought back to earn a 100-97 win. During the match, a controversial play unfolded between Giannis Antetokounmpo and Amen Thompson, when the Rockets player pulled the All-Star down from behind and earned an ejection.
After the contest, the Greek forward assured he had “no hard feelings” towards the second-year NBA athlete, despite him holding down on his head and neck when trying to dunk the ball. The Bucks were down by two points with 4 minutes to the final buzzer when this play occurred, and Giannis went to the foul line.
The play was then reviewed and determined as a flagrant foul 2, with Amen earning an ejection. “At the end of the day like you don’t want to have a league that’s soft,” the former league MVP said about his rival. “I love guys that play hard. I love guys that they’re great competitors.”
Antetokounmpo then added: “I’m one of those guys. Sometimes your competitive nature gets in the way [of] making the best decision, the best judgment at the time. And I feel like he wanted to make it a hard foul, but he grabbed my neck. But there’s no hard feelings.”
As for Thompson, he didn’t speak to the press after the match. This was the sophomore’s second ejection this season, as he was also tossed out in a December clash against the Heat after throwing guard Tyler Herro to the court.
That night, the incident caused an altercation between both teams that led to the ejections of six players and even staff members. Amen, who was the No. 4 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, was suspended for two games because of it.
Once last night’s contest came to an end, both coaches Ime Udoka and Doc Rivers agreed that Thompson had to be ejected for the foul. “Because the contact to the head was both unnecessary and excessive and by rule that’s a flagrant foul penalty two,” crew chief Tony Brothers explained.
