NBA Playoffs 2015: Al Horford Faces no Additional Punishment after Game 3 Ejection

Atlanta Hawks Al Horford will be able to play in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The All-Star was ejected in Game 3 of the series after he came down hard on Cavaliers Matthew Dellavedova in the second quarter. After watching the replay numerous times, the referees ruled Horford's foul a flagrant 2. The flagrant foul 2 will still stand, Tim Kuck, the league's spokesman said.

The crew chief, referee Ken Mauer, explained that Horford got the flagrant 2 because he "made contact above the should, to the shoulder and head area, of Dellavedova."

Horford spoke about the foul, stating that although his decision was a poor one, he thought that Dellavedova was intentionally going after his legs.

"I'll definitely learn from this and will make sure to keep my composure and things like this don't happen," Horford said. "But the game before, I got hit in the knees and it kind of played over again."

He added, "We're out there competing. But he's gotta learn, I mean he's only been in this league for a couple of years or whatever, but he's gotta learn that at the end of the day it's a big brotherhood here. Guys look out for each other and, I don't think that it was malicious, but he's gotta learn. If it was on purpose or not, we don't know. Maybe it wasn't on purpose. But, you know, with just his track record, I just felt like it was."

This is the third time in the playoffs that Dellavedova has gotten tangled up with the legs of other players. In Game 2 of this series, Dellavedova fell on top of Hawks Kyle Korver's leg and injured him.

Game 4 will be tonight, May 26 at 8:30 pm on TNT.