Dallas Mavericks star Kristaps Porzingis was ejected for the first time in his NBA career on Monday as the Mavs fell 118-110 to the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 1.

Porzingis picked up his second technical foul after teammate Luka Doncic and Clippers forward Marcus Morris got tangled up and Porzingis came in to confront Morris. Morris shoved the Mavericks star and they briefly needed to be separated before being assessed technical fouls.

A pair of NBA legends -- and even Morris himself -- thought the call to send Porzingis to the locker room with 9:10 remaining in the third quarter was an overreaction.

"Man that was BOGUS AS HELL man. Cmon man," LeBron James tweeted not long after the call was made.

"That ejection is super soft..." Mavericks great Dirk Nowitzki added.

The underdog Mavs gave the Clippers all they could handle in Game 1, causing some to wonder what may have happened if Dallas had its star centre the rest of the way. Porzingis had 14 points and six rebounds in just under 20 minutes of action up until that point.

"I didn't think it was much of nothing, honestly," Morris said. "I wish that Porzingis played because it's playoffs, man -- nobody should get thrown out in playoffs. I know that really hurt their team. Not my fault, but I didn't think it was that serious."

"I don't think it was fair to get him out of the game, especially in the playoffs. We had to play without him, which was tough," Doncic said, adding he was thankful Porzingis "had my back."

According to ESPN's Tim MacMahon, crew chief Kane Fitzgerald said in a pool report that Porzingis was an escalator to the situation and the fact that it would have removed him from the game was not considered. He received his first technical for protesting a foul called against him with just over six minutes to go in the second quarter.

Game 2 between the two teams goes Wednesday evening from the Orlando bubble.