Charlie Villanueva ejected after grabbing Russell Westbrook's throat after scuffle

Charlie Villanueva was ejected after he escalated a scuffle between J.J. Barea and Russell Westbrook in the second quarter of the Mavericks' game vs. the Thunder on Wednesday. Here's video of the incident.

Full tussle includes Charlie Villanueva grabbing Westbrook's throat, looked like Ibaka's too pic.twitter.com/amsVZqTuHU

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) January 14, 2016

The fracas went to the replay center, where double technicals were assessed Westbrook and Barea, a technical went on Ibaka and Charlie V got two, sending him to the locker room. Westbrook shot one technical free throw and then took his two foul shots. That all seems reasonable, given Villanueva's unnecessary escalation.

Coming off an overtime loss to the Cavaliers where Dirk Nowitzki and the others played heavy minutes, the Mavericks opted to rest all five starters against Oklahoma City. Villanueva started at the four, but Dallas will have to finish mostly playing Dwight Powell or Jeremy Evans there.

This was about the only thing that could make this thing mildly interesting. Alright. It's over now. On to the next one.