First Fighting Ejection

[youngump]

Originally Posted by Pantherdreams

My only concern (and what I inferring in what others are writing) would be if the fight response is an overreaction on the part of the 2nd player. While I agree that if someone does something to start a fight and gets hit they are both culpable, we can't seem to agree on what exactly an "unsporting" act that leads to a fight might be. Some we know when we see it but others seem to be contextual and an overreaction.

Examples w/context:

A) Its been a physical game all game. Players making lots of contact on cutters, rebounding and post position are physical contests. You get all the ones you should, teams are just battling hard. Team A continues to get the worse of it on the scoreboard and aren't handling it well. Late in the game the same play that has been happening all game on a cut or rebound happens (maybe its a foul you call, maybe its not) A5 jumps up and starts to swing at B5. I can't say what A5 did was unsporting but it did result in B5 swinging. Now they both have to go?

B) B2 makes a tough and 1 layup through contact. Comes out celebrating. Something in the celebration either for cultural/personal reasons or just out of frustration causes A4 to jump and start swinging? Do they both go? What if the celebration was something we would tell the kid to knock off or even T up - do they both go now?

Not a basketball official but I do lurk here a lot. From reading what people have written, isn't the distinction whether you call a technical foul? If you don't call a technical on A5 or A4 then their act wasn't part of the fight. But if you do call a technical foul on them and a fight results, then the technical from A5 or A4 retroactively becomes part of that fight. (If you didn't call it, then they didn't commit an unsporting act?)