Things got heated in Houston tonight. The Rockets have been on fire this season and have not faced defeat in the last six games. They aimed to extend their winning streak tonight as the Sixers came into town, hoping to end their dominant run. Despite missing all their star players, the Philly team surprisingly gave the Rockets a run for their money, which eventually led to frustrations for the home team and a brutal penalty for Fred VanVleet.

The incident occurred in the closing minutes of the final quarter. As his team trailed by four points, Fred rose for a deep three to close the gap. However, his shot was deflected by big man Oshae Brissett, who might have slapped the Rockets guard’s arm instead of blocking the ball. As a result, Fred lost his balance and fell flat on the hardwood. However, the official did not blow the whistle and let the play continue.

Obviously, VanVleet was not pleased with the non-call. He sprinted to the other side of the court and hit Brissett with a hard foul. Surely looked like an act of revenge from the Rockets guard as Oshae went flying to the floor after the hit. As expected, the official blew the whistle this time, and immediately headed to the monitor to review a potential hostile play by Fred.

Well, the replay clearly showed that VanVleet put in some extra oomph into the foul and the official upgraded it to a Flagrant 2 penalty as there was “wind up, impact and follow.” As the veteran guard got ejected from the game, he could not believe the referee’s decision and charged toward him with a surprised look, yelling, “Woah! Woah! Woah!” The call was final and VanVleet was done for the night, finishing with 3 points and five assists.

Sure enough, Fred will be further penalized for his reckless foul as the ejection will lead to a minimum fine of $2,000, as per league rules. Moreover, this sum could increase significantly upon review based on the severity of the hit. After all, it has happened before!

Fred VanVleet was fined $50,000 in November for cursing out NBA refs

Well, tonight is not the first time this season VanVleet has been booted from a game. Back in November, he faced a similar fate during the Blazers clash after he began cursing out the officials following a non-call. Pointing at all three in-game refs, Fred seemingly yelled, “You suck. You suck. And You suck. B—- a—n—-.” As he got ejected for his actions, VanVleet’s anger grew even more and his hand came inches close to an official’s face, while he said, “You’re a B—-!”

Official Courtney Kirkland even addressed the ejection after the game, “VanVleet was ejected on one technical foul for his vulgar language and pointing at all three officials.” However, the ref also admitted that they made a mistake not calling a foul that Fred was complaining about.

“In live action, we felt that the defender stayed directly on the path of VanVleet during his attempted motion toward the basket. After video review, we see the defender did close space and did make contact with the hip of VanVleet and a foul should have been called,” Kirkland noted.

However, the late admission did not matter as Fred got fined $50,000 “for confronting and directing profane language toward the officiating staff.” Fortunately, his reaction was not as aggressive tonight and he might avoid the hefty fine this time. More importantly, VanVleet’s ejection seemingly motivated his team to muscle a comeback, and they ended up beating the Sixers in overtime, extending their winning streak to seven games.

A positive end to an emotional night for VanVleet! Well, what do you think? Was his frustration warranted? Or is this a concerning pattern? Let us know in the comments.