Spoelstra lambastes 'disgraceful' decision to eject Dragic

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra saw no reason why his team's best player was ejected in Friday's 127-100 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Heat guard Goran Dragic was shoved in the face by Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson following an exchange of shoves along the baseline during the third quarter. Dragic reacted to the cheap shot by getting up and charging towards Clarkson, but he was stopped before officials and teammates intervened.

Spoelstra didn't see any reason for Dragic to be booted. After all, he was the victim in all this.

"That's really shameful, disgraceful that Goran Dragic got thrown out of that game," Spoelstra told ESPN's Baxter Holmes. "It's an elbow to the face, somebody that wants to fight, knocks him down on the ground, and it's just a bail-out, shameful, disgraceful ejection.

"There's no way he should be thrown out of that situation for just taking an elbow to the face, getting up, not even necessarily defending himself, just getting up. But at that point, it's an eight-point game, and we pretty much just let it go from there.

"I don't know if it would have made a difference, but he's our best player, and having him go down with us down the stretch, it's probably a possession game."

The Lakers turned the game into a blowout after Dragic's ejection. The injury-weathered Heat were outscored 37-21 in the fourth quarter to complete the double-whammy.

Dragic left the game without speaking to reporters, leaving Clarkson to get the last word in.

"It's the heat of the game," Clarkson said. "Stuff happens through the game, and we're not going to back down from guys."