Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

We witnessed a major collapse from the 76ers Tuesday night, and perhaps the biggest surprise from the meltdown came late in the fourth quarter of Washington’s overtime win, when all-time nice guy Elton Brand nearly sent Javale McGee three feet into the hardwood with a needless shove.

Brand was immediately tossed, handed a “flagrant two” foul which carries with it an automatic ejection.

Watch the video, though. Towards the end you can see McGee (though clearly pained) giving Brand a wave as he’s kicked out of the game.

It’s something you see at the end of a bad action movie, where the hero (bleeding from all over) gives the vanquished a wave as they’re carried away, only to collapse again just after muttering something about how they’re too old for something or other.

[Another crazy ejection: Punches thrown on the football field]

Brand later said he was “surprised that it was a ‘flagrant two,'” (as opposed to a ‘flagrant one’) which I don’t think anyone should take as lack of contrition on his part. Sometimes you go up wanting to take a hard foul to stop a dunk that seems otherwise inevitably, you’re met with a very skinny man, and a hard (borderline flagrant) foul turns into a “flagrant one” and then a “flagrant two” before you know it.

McGee ended up being fine, getting up and playing 46 minutes of the game.

Not to defend what Elton did, he needs to be more careful when dealing with 7-foot, 127-pound men that are bounding in mid air toward a basket to dunk a ball in it, but I can understand why he fouled McGee, and why he was somewhat surprised it all went wrong.

(Original video via FanHouse. Be thankful for them.)

UPDATE: Elton Brand has been suspended for one game, following the hit.

By Kelly Dwyer