ROCKETS NEWS
Antetokounmpo sounds off on Rockets Amen Thompson after flagrant foul leads to ejection
Feb 26, 2025, 1:04 pm
ROCKETS NEWS
Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo has “no hard feelings” toward Amen Thompson after the Houston forward was ejected for pulling him down from behind by his head and neck Tuesday night.
The Bucks were down by two with about 4½ minutes left when Thompson committed the foul as Antetokounmpo went up for a shot in the lane. The play was reviewed and determined to by a flagrant foul 2 and Thompson was ejected.
Houston went on to a 100-97 victory that snapped Milwaukee’s four-game winning streak.
“At the end of the day like you don’t wanna have a league that’s soft,” Antetokounmpo said when asked about the play. “I love guys that play hard. I love guys that they’re great competitors.”
“I’m one of those guys,” he continued. “Sometimes your competitive nature gets in the way (of) making the best decision, the best judgment at the time. And I feel like he wanted to make it a hard foul, but he grabbed my neck. But there’s no hard feelings.”
Thompson didn’t speak to reporters after the game.
Antetokounmpo believes that plays like this one or simply part of the game.
“I understand like when you’re a competitor, you’re gonna make mistakes like that,” he said. “I love it. I love playing this way. I don’t have no hard feelings against him.”
Both Houston coach Ime Udoka and Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers agreed that Thompson should have been ejected for the foul.
Crew chief Tony Brothers explained the decision to eject Thompson to a pool reporter after the game.
“Because the contact to the head was both unnecessary and excessive and by rule that’s a flagrant foul penalty two,” he said.
It’s the second ejection this season for Thompson, who was also tossed in a December game against the Heat after throwing Miami guard Tyler Herro to the floor. The incident triggered an altercation between the teams which led to the ejections of six players and staff members.
Thompson, the fourth overall pick in the 2023 draft, was suspended two games for his actions in that skirmish.
Oswald Peraza hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels snap a three-game losing skid by beating the Houston Astros 4-1 on Saturday night.
Peraza entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and hit a bases-loaded fly ball to deep right field that eluded the outstretched glove of Cam Smith. It was the fourth straight hit off Astros closer Bryan Abreu (3-4), who had not allowed a run in his previous 12 appearances.
The Angels third run of the ninth inning scored when Mike Trout walked with the bases loaded.
Kyle Hendricks allowed one run while scattering seven hits over six innings. He held the Astros to 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one hit coming on Jesús Sánchez’s third-inning infield single that scored Jeremy Peña.
Reid Detmers worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Astros scoreless in the seventh, and José Fermin (3-2) retired the side in order in the eighth before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save.
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Zach Neto’s third-inning solo home run.
Yordan Alvarez had two hits for the Astros, who remained three games ahead of Seattle for first place in the AL West.
Peraza’s two-run single to deep right field that broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth.
Opponents were 5 for 44 against Abreu in August before he allowed four straight hits in the ninth.
Astros RHP Hunter Brown (10-6, 2.37 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (9-9, 3.85) when the series continues Sunday.