Luguentz Dort is a grimy participant.
I’m not saying one thing fully remarkable with this take. Dort, together with most gamers on the Thunder, profit from a whistle not given to the remainder of the league. Friday evening’s matchup between the Nuggets and Thunder confirmed that at full impact.
This sport was very bodily from begin to end. These two groups don’t like one another, and I really feel a lot of that comes from the SGA vs. Jokic MVP debates. Jokic might be the higher participant, however Gilgeous-Alexander received the MVP final yr and knocked the Nuggets out of the playoffs.
Issues are totally different this time round. Jokic has way more assist than in years previous. Denver isn’t fairly totally wholesome but, however in spurts, you’ve seen what this group might do within the playoffs.
OKC and Denver met at the beginning of the month, however the Nuggets have been nonetheless lacking a number of function gamers, and Jokic had a little bit of a down evening in solely his second sport again from harm. Even nonetheless, we noticed a degree of chippiness on this one that you just usually received’t see within the NBA.
What occurred on Friday had been constructing for the higher a part of two seasons.
Whereas making an attempt to get again on protection on a made basket, Dort purposefully hip-checked and tripped Jokic, resulting in a mid-court combat between Jokic and Jaylin Williams.
Dort was given a flagrant two and ejected from the sport, one thing Coach Daigneault disagreed with. He claimed that any participant who journeys somebody operating up the ground ought to be ejected now that this precedent has been set.
Normally, if one thing like this happens, a participant ought to in all probability be ejected. Rocket’s Tari Eason did one thing related earlier this week, and it led to Vince Williams Jr. tearing his ACL. Physicality is nice in basketball, however dumb performs just like the one Dort made are harmful and will doubtlessly injure a famous person like Jokic.
One other key issue is that Dort doesn’t deserve any advantage of the doubt. This isn’t a one-off play. He’s a Draymond Inexperienced-like character who’s at all times toeing the road between truthful and foul.
Dort has numerous performs like this. For those who really feel like he is near doing something soiled, he ought to be faraway from the sport and fined, as a result of he’s consistently committing non-basketball fouls.
The Thunder did go on to win in OT, however fortunately, these groups meet once more in lower than 10 days, so I doubt that is the tip of this beef.
