Heat's Goran Dragic, Lakers' Jordan Clarkson both booted after scuffle

LOS ANGELES -- After his team's 127-100 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday at Staples Center, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra strongly criticized the officials' decision to eject Heat point guard Goran Dragic after a scuffle involving Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson, who was also ejected.

The ejections came midway through the third quarter, after the players nearly came to blows. The altercation began after Clarkson pushed Dragic to the court following some physical play between the two players.

"That's really shameful, disgraceful that Goran Dragic got thrown out of that game," Spoelstra said. "It's an elbow to the face, somebody that wants to fight, knocks him down on the ground, and it's just a bail-out, shameful, disgraceful ejection.

"There's no way he should be thrown out of that situation for just taking an elbow to the face, getting up, not even necessarily defending himself, just getting up. But at that point, it's an eight-point game, and we pretty much just let it go from there.

"I don't know if it would have made a difference, but he's our best player, and having him go down with us down the stretch, it's probably a possession game."

Dragic said the ejection caught him off-guard.

"I was surprised, if I'm honest," Dragic said Saturday. "You know, he was the aggressor, and I got ejected. ... That's in the past. I don't want to get into this kind of stuff. It is what it is. I'm over it, and I'm focused on [Sunday's game against the Clippers]."

When asked if he expects to receive an explanation from the officials, Spoelstra said, "Who knows? Who cares? We'll probably have a report tomorrow. Whatever. I mean, you can look at it over and over and over. He's just taking a two-handed shove, an elbow to the chin, and he gets ejected for that. None of us get it. None of us understand it, and I could care less about hearing any kind of explanation about it tomorrow."

"It's the heat of the game," Clarkson said. "Stuff happens through the game, and we're not going to back down from guys. We're out here playing hard, and stuff happens. [It bothers me] a little bit if I'm [suspended and] missing games, but [the Lakers] handled business after that, so it was good for us to get that win."

Although Dragic said the incident was an "emotional reaction" from himself, he says you can look at the scuffle and see what he did.

"The videos don't lie. The videos don't lie, so that's it," Dragic said Saturday. "I didn't do that [elbow Clarkson in the chest and stomach], and if I do that, I would say I did it, but I'm an honest guy, and video don't lie."

Lakers coach Luke Walton downplayed the altercation between Dragic and Clarkson.

"I don't think it's that big of a deal," Walton said. "You never want a fight to happen, but a scuffle, two guys push each other, keep the game moving. Let's go."

When asked if he believed that players should have been ejected, Walton said, "It looked like bumping and shoving, maybe a technical each, but with all the new rules, it's tough to tell what's what anymore. I'm always a fan of letting players continue to play unless something gets completely out of hand."