LOS ANGELES -- In what could end up being his last game in a Los Angeles Lakers uniform, Dwight Howard was ejected after picking up his second technical foul shortly after halftime in Sunday's Game 4 against the San Antonio Spurs.

Howard's second tech came from arguing with a referee with 9:51 to go in the third quarter and the already-thin Lakers trailing 55-34.

"It's over with now," Howard said of his ejection. "I just got to do a better job of trying to keep my cool. It's very tough to be out there playing. It's an emotional game, you don't want to lose, and sometimes when things don't go your way, sometimes you react the wrong way. I just got to keep my cool."

Howard later apologized in a series of Twitter posts.

"Im still upset about tonights game and the way this season ended," Howard tweeted around 3:30 a.m. ET Monday morning. "Im mad I lost my cool. Im sorry for letting my team and our fans down when ... they needed me the most. If there's one thing I've learned this year its that I need to be more responsible for my actions and learn to ... 'breathe'!"

Coach Mike D'Antoni defended Howard, saying "I'm sure he didn't mean to."

"He takes a pounding and after a while I guess his nerves are shot or whatever, but obviously we were in a deep hole anyways so I felt bad for him," D'Antoni said. "Understand it's easy when you sit there like us and just watch, but when you're playing you've got a lot of adrenaline going so it's a hard situation and obviously that wouldn't have happened if the series was a little bit different."

Lakers legend and ESPN analyst Magic Johnson was not so apologetic in a series of critical tweets:

• "Dwight Howard that was a big No, No. Your teammates and the fans were counting on you."

• "Dwight, I've been swept before but I never let my team down by getting kicked out of the game."

• "Dwight with an already depleted team you couldn't afford to foul out or get kicked out. Having you on the floor was the only chance for the @Lakers."