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Gibson's flagrant-2 stands, but no further punishment; Dellavedova assessed a technical

David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Taj Gibson's flagrant-2 foul on Matthew Dellavedova overshadowed another tight finish between the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers in Tuesday's Game 5 of their East semifinal, but the Bulls forward saw a small measure of justice Wednesday.

Though earlier speculation from CBS Sports' Ken Berger that Gibson's foul would be downgraded upon review was not borne out, Gibson will not face any further disciplinary action, according to USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt.

Flagrant-2 fouls, which are characterized by unnecessary and excessive contact, result in automatic ejections for the perpetrators, who then become subject to additional fines or suspensions from the league office.

Here's the play that got Gibson tossed:

Taj Gibson stomp.

"My opinion doesn’t matter," Gibson said after the game. "The refs reviewed it. They didn’t see what everybody else saw. So I have to respect it."

Another (extremely) small consolation for Gibson is that Dellavedova has retroactively been assessed a technical foul for his involvement in the play, in which he appeared to lock Gibson's leg - a move Bulls center Joakim Noah approved of.

The belated ruling doesn't mean an awful lot for Dellavedova, unless he's planning on picking up six additional techs this postseason, in which case he'd automatically be hit with a one-game suspension.

The Bulls finished the game on a 26-18 run following Gibson's ejection, so it's not as if the initial ruling cost Chicago the game. But the league is at least acknowledging its oversight of Dellavedova's culpability.

Gibson's only run-in with NBA discipline came during the 2013 playoffs, when he was fined $25,000 for verbally abusing officials during Chicago's series against the Miami Heat.

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