Unfair Ejection?

I'm not a Paul Pierce fan and I'd love to see Miami beat Boston, but I have to admit Pierce got a raw deal when he was thrown out of Sunday's game. His first technical foul came after he was hammered while trying to get a jump shot off after faking his defender into the air. He approached James Jones after the hard foul and got in his face. The contact he initiated could not be considered a head butt unless you are using soccer standards.

Later Pierce set a pick on Dwayne Wade and was given a technical for "verbal taunting" after the collision. I have never seen a player tossed quicker for doing less in my life (unless you count Tim Duncan being ejected by Joey Crawford for laughing while sitting on the bench.)

Watching the replay and seeing the ref's quick and exaggerated body language reminded me of an umpire throwing out an angry manager after he's been arguing and carrying on in front of the fans. I had a feeling he was just itching to toss someone.

As unfair as some think this may have been, it is still a good thing since it will make the playoffs more exciting and has primed the pump for all the conspiracy theorists to come out of the woodwork.