24-year-old Latvian rookie had a fantastic reaction after becoming the first Spurs player ejected in 4 years
Darren Abate/AP
San Antonio Spurs rookie and Latvia native Davis Bertans did something on Monday night that no Spurs player has done in almost four years: he got ejected from an NBA game.
During the third quarter against the Bucks, Milwaukee big-man Greg Monroe bothered Dewayne Dedmond after the whistle and eventually shoved him. Bertans did not appreciate this, and stepped in to shove Monroe right back.
Eventually some more pushes were exchanged, and in typical NBA fighting fashion no actual punches were thrown before the whole thing ended.
Bertans, though, was tossed, which hadn't happened to anyone in a San Antonio uniform since Steven Jackson in 2013.
Here's the scene:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/vDw5ddSCBS8
Width: 560px
Height: 315px
On the face of it, Bertans does not seem like the type of player to get himself ejected (though he is 6-foot-10). He's 24 but looks closer to 17, and his tight red crewcut doesn't make him look like the most intimidating player in the league.
But when asked afterwards if he'd been ejected before, Bertans gave a wonderful answer:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/805991038196260864
You ever get ejected from a game before, Davis Bertans? "I played in Serbia. It happened at least once a year."
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/805991109977575424
The difference, Bertans said? "In Serbia, we'd get ejected for real fights."
A user on Twitter quickly confirmed Bertans' assertion:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/805999389143695360
@JMcDonald_SAEN can confirm that. https://t.co/eARejdCiiy
The Adriatic League, of course, is the Wild West compared to the NBA, so really it shouldn't come as much of a surprise. And while Bertans probably didn't deserve an ejection for his shove, evidently the ejection doesn't faze him.
Even better, Bertans seems to have earned some chops in the locker room for his ejection.
Said LaMarcus Aldridge: "I'm going to leave him alone now."
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