Jimmy Butler's Monday night, when the Heat hosted the Trail Blazers, was cut short as he was forced to leave the game with 2:28 minutes left in the first half.
Butler was neither called for a Flagrant 2 foul, which warrants a direct ejection, nor was it a result of two separate technical fouls called as part of two separate incidents.
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Instead, it was one of those rare occasions in the NBA when one player is called for two technicals within a matter of seconds and thus, ejected.
Butler was called for his first technical after he got the floater to fall despite the contact. Despite getting the call in his favour, the 6-foot-7 forward was jawing with the baseline official Mousa Dagher which earned him his first technical.
Then, Butler seemed to walk away but then, Courtney Kirkland called for a second technical.
Jimmy Butler was thrown out of the game
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 20, 2022
He was NOT happy with the refs 😳 pic.twitter.com/3L7ukD2hqa
Forced to leave the game, Butler's 3-point play was completed by Chris Silva, a player who hadn't played a second until then.
The basket preceding the two technicals was Butler's first in four attempts in 15 minutes of action. When forced to leave, he had recorded four points, three rebounds and three assists.
This was coming off a 19-point, 10-rebound, 10-assist triple-double performance in a win against the Raptors on Monday night. That was his ninth triple-double with the Heat, tying him with LeBron James for the most in franchise history.
The top of our regular season triple-doubles list is pretty elite#JimmyButler // #NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/96Uel4zctK
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) January 18, 2022
In terms of ejections, this was the second of Butler's career in 660 regular-season games. His only previous ejection came while he was with the 76ers during the 2018-19 season.
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