Canadian Bennedict Mathurin ejected in first quarter for altercation
Canadian Bennedict Mathurin has been watching too much of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Canadian Bennedict Mathurin has been watching too much of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Indiana Pacers guard was ejected with less than five minutes remaining in the first quarter of their Game 4 matchup with Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday.
The sixth-overall pick in 2022 appeared to land a punch in the midsection of Cavaliers’ De’Andre Hunter, who then responded by shoving him to the ground.
Mathurin was given a flagrant 2 foul and was ejected from the game, while Hunter and Myles Turner, who came to the defence of Mathurin, were each given a technical.
The two have gone back-and-forth the entire series — in Game 1 there was a hard collision between them, as Hunter drove the glass and then fell to the court after Mathurin came in for the block and subsequently stepped over him.
In Game 3, the two also received offsetting technical fouls for jawing with each other during the final minute of the third quarter.
Mathurin led the Pacers in Game 3 with 23 points and was 3-for-8 from three-point range, but had only played for one minute during Game 4 before he was told to hit the showers.
It didn’t matter for the Pacers offence, as they went on to hold an 80-39 lead heading into halftime.
The Pacers currently hold a 2-1 advantage over the top-seeded Cavaliers in their Western Conference semifinal matchup.
