New York Knicks forward Josh Hart is known for his physical, hard-working style and is quite effective when he uses those qualities to make basketball plays. Karate-style kicks to the head do not fall under that description, however, which is why Hart was ejected from the Knicks' 108-100 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Friday night.
Late in the first quarter, Hart drove to the basket and had the ball stripped from his hands by Javonte Green on the way up. Before Hart landed, he stuck his leg out and kicked Green in the back of the head, sending the Bulls guard to the ground.
The officials immediately went to the monitor to review the play and didn't take long to upgrade the foul to a Flagrant 2 on Hart, resulting in an automatic ejection.
"Intent is not a criteria for what we do when we are ruling on a flagrant foul penalty 2 or 1," crew chief Scott Foster said in the pool report. "However, wind up, impact and follow through, potential for injury, whether the act was a non-basketball play, and location of the contact as well as whether we thought it was a reckless act are all the criteria that we felt were met for this decision."
To little surprise, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau did not agree with the referees' assessment of the situation, calling it a "tough call."
The incident seemed to inspire Green, who went on to finish with 25 points and 13 rebounds and set career highs in both categories. With the win, the Bulls stayed ahead of the Atlanta Hawks in the race for the No. 9 seed, which would give them homecourt advantage in the No. 9 vs. No. 10 Play-In Game.
As for the Knicks, the one bit of good news in defeat was that OG Anunoby returned after missing another nine games with an elbow injury. He played 29 minutes and scored 12 points.
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