By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Luka Doncic made headlines last week against Barcelona for putting his opponents “on skates” and hitting a full-court buzzer beater. But tonight, the spotlight’s attention fell on him due to his ejection (and reaction afterward) following an unsportsmanlike foul and then a technical during the second period.
“Luka had an unsportsmanlike and then a technical. So he’s out,” Real Madrid coach Pablo Laso commented during the post-game presser. “He has to be smart. He needs to learn and he needs to stay in the match. Keep playing. Whether it’s (the decision) fair or not.”
According to the officiating rules in European basketball, the referees cannot change their decision regarding a foul after watching the instant replay. But they did after Doncic’s elbow hit on Tibor Pleiss.
“I’m going to say what I saw in the video. The refs had an unsportsmanlike on Pleiss. After they saw the blood, they reasserted their decision and gave an unsportsmanlike on Luka. You cannot reassess that in basketball. You cannot change your decision. They looked at the video and gave it to Luka. It wasn’t an unsportsmanlike because he tried to protect himself. According to the regulation, you can’t do that,” said Laso.
“I don’t know if you can do it in football with VAR, but you can’t re-arbitrate in basketball,” he added.