Amare's Ejection Sparks Nets' Run to Victory

In advance of the Suns' nationally televised game against the Heat, an article appeared on the four-letter's website that basically said that Amare Stoudemire wanted to be the featured player on his team, and that he would explore every opportunity when he too becomes a free agent in the magical summer of 2010.

Despite the weak attempt at over-sensationalizing the obvious (of course every free agent will explore his options), the takeaway was that Amare feels he's ready to make the leap to being a franchise player who can put the team on his back when necessary and carry them to victory. After a couple of performances from him that were just average, Amare finally showed that franchise quality last night against the Nets. At least until his emotional play -- along with a quick whistle from an official -- resulted in two technical fouls, and an automatic ejection.

Amare picked up his first technical three and a half minutes into the fourth, after a stoppage in play where he felt there was some extracurricular activity from the Nets' Devin Harris and Trenton Hassell. It resulted in double technicals, actually (Hassell picked up one as well), but Amare felt that based on how things unfolded, he shouldn't have picked one up at all.

"The first technical foul, the whistle was blown, everybody's calm and relaxed," said Stoudemire. "Then Devin Harris reached over the top of me and smacked the ball, and you know, my natural reaction is to kind of clear the space out. There was no technical foul called at that time. But then when Hassell walked up and bumped me, then, you know, he initiated some more confrontation. I really didn't think I deserved a technical foul on that."

Any time there's even a little bit of pushing and shoving (and really, this was only a very little bit), it's going to result in a double technical for the players who are involved. That's just how NBA officials handle those situations. The second technical on Amare was an extremely quick whistle though, especially considering the fact that it would be his second and would result in his getting kicked out of the game. It came after he was whistled for an extremely questionable traveling call, and Amare simply reacted to let the official know he disagreed. He said afterwards that he felt that the way the rules are written, he has the right to react to a call, as long as he doesn't take it too far.

"I think tonight, with the reaction, the rule states that I'm allowed to react, as long as I don't continue the verbal towards the official," Stoudemire said. "It was a simple reaction, and to get ejected for something like that, I've seen players do a lot more and say a lot worse and not even get a technical foul. ... I wasn't expecting to get a technical foul off of a reaction like that. There were no cuss words, I just didn't think it was a travel. And again, I've seen players do a lot worse, and I feel comfortable with my reaction."

I have to agree with Amare on the second one. The call was (likely) a bad one, and Amare's reaction (especially if you believe him about the "no cuss words" part) was demonstrative, but not deserving of a tech -- especially when it was going to be his second of the game and get him tossed with about 3:30 to play and his team up by only three.

The Nets went on a 19-9 run after the ejection, and came from 11 down after three to beat the Suns 117-109. Amare had a big game, finishing with 25 points and 12 rebounds. But his ejection couldn't have come at a worse time. Amare said that he "wants to play off emotion," and that "that's his game." But he has to be aware of the situation when he already has one technical foul, and whether the official had a quick whistle or not, Amare needs to do a better job of keeping his emotions in check if he indeed wants to make the leap to being one of the NBA's top players.