HOUSTON — Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt was ejected during the second quarter of Monday night’s game against the Houston Rockets for physical contact he made with Rockets forward Dillon Brooks, leading to a pair of technical fouls and the eventual ejection.
After Austin Reaves banked in a jumper to cut the Lakers’ deficit to 44-34 at the 10:36 mark in the second, Vanderbilt received his first technical foul for shoving Brooks after Brooks nudged him with his right hand while they were underneath the basket waiting for Reaves’ shot to fall.
Vanderbilt received his second technical seconds later when he tapped the back of Brooks’ ear as Brooks was walking away from Vanderbilt, resulting in being ejected.
He finished with three points in just seven minutes.
Vanderbilt appeared to be upset with Brooks after Brooks pushed Vanderbilt in the back while he was in midair for a dunk earlier in the quarter. He landed awkwardly after the dunk and fell to the floor.
Brooks’ foul was reviewed to see if it was a flagrant foul but was ruled a common foul.
Vanderbilt was a significant point of conversation during Lakers coach Darvin Ham’s pregame media availability after playing a career-high 41 minutes and being a significant contributor in Saturday’s double-overtime road win against the Golden State Warriors.
He entered Monday averaging 11.8 points (63.9% shooting), 6.4 rebounds (two offensive rebounds) and 2.4 steals in the previous five games.
Vanderbilt has done well recently with being aggressive offensively when teams sag off him, daring him to shoot or make a play with the ball.
“We had a shootaround. I think it was before the Clipper game, that morning, and we were doing some five-on-0 stuff,” Ham said. “And I just pulled him to the side and I told him, you gotta be a threat, too. You gotta be aggressive. He’s had all of that in his package in terms of recognizing the space that he’s given. Being able to go immediately uphill to a…
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