Did Kyle Lowry intend to show up a referee by throwing the ball to the other side of the court? If so, this technical foul – Lowry’s second, which triggered an ejection – was warranted.
Was Lowry just blowing off steam as his Raptors were en route to a 118-95 loss to the Bulls? If so, throwing a longer pass to a referee seems like a reasonable way to do so.
Did Lowry just look up and throw the ball to the first referee he saw, even if it weren’t the nearest official? If so, that shouldn’t warrant a technical foul, either.
The NBA obviously doesn’t want to create a situation where players aggressively (passively or otherwise) throw the ball to refs. But players – whom people actually want to see – should get more benefit of the doubt with incidents like this.