Rui Hachimura Got Ejected In The Fourth Quarter Of Japan-France After A Foul On Rudy Gobert

France is one of the top contenders for a medal in men’s basketball at the Paris Olympics, and as the home nation their games are a top draw. On Tuesday, the French side went up against Japan in their second game of group play, and found themselves in a surprising dog fight with a Japanese side led by Rui Hachimura.

The game was back-and-forth throughout, with Hachimura leading the way for Japan with 24 points early in the fourth quarter, when the Japanese star and Lakers wing picked up his second unsportsmanlike foul of the game and was ejected for pulling down Rudy Gobert’s arm and sending him tumbling to the floor. After review, the referees deemed it an unsportsmanlike foul and Hachimura had already picked one up in the third quarter for knocking Bilal Coulibaly to the floor, meaning his night was over.

The FIBA definition of an unsportsmanlike foul is a little bit different than an NBA Flagrant, but even so this felt like a pretty soft foul to lead to an ejection. Gobert falling to the floor didn’t help Hachimura’s case, but that felt more like the big man stumbling and losing his balance than getting forcefully thrown to the ground.