TORONTO — NBA officials successfully identified two unhappy basketball players Friday night after Desmond Bane and RJ Barrett received technical fouls during Orlando's 121–114 victory over Toronto.
The confrontation followed an Orlando basket in the first quarter, when the two players became involved in a brief scuffle near center court.
The officials responded by assessing technical fouls to both men, effectively establishing that the disagreement had failed to produce a winner.
It was a rare moment of complete balance in NBA officiating. One player was upset. The other was also upset. Neither was rewarded for demonstrating this condition.
The incident did not prevent Bane from producing one of his best games of the young season. He finished with 28 points, including six three-pointers, as Orlando recovered from a 30-point loss to the Raptors two days earlier.
Toronto, meanwhile, received 41 points from Scottie Barnes and still lost, providing several perfectly legitimate reasons for further dissatisfaction.
Professional basketball has developed an elaborate system for addressing disagreements, including technical fouls, video reviews, coaches' challenges and televised explanations about the meaning of normal human movement.
Sometimes, though, the answer is comparatively simple.
Two competitive athletes became irritated with each other. Both received the same penalty. The game continued.
For a league where every whistle can inspire 20 minutes of argument, that qualifies as administrative efficiency.
Unfortunately for Toronto, the scoreboard proved less interested in equal treatment.
