Getty Milwaukee Bucks guard Grayson Allen looks to the scoreboard after being ejected from a game against the Chicago Bulls.
The Chicago Bulls have been down this road before with Grayson Allen. Sure, his actions during Wednesday’s thrilling OT win over the Bucks didn’t result in a serious injury — as they did with Alex Caruso last season — but his latest unnecessary contact with a Bulls player still caused a stir.
It happened at the 6:55 mark of the third quarter, when Allen threw a pass to teammate Wesley Matthews, then broke toward the sideline as the Bucks executed their offense. As Allen began his cut, Patrick Williams got tangled up with the Duke alum, lightly pushing him and causing him to stumble in doing so.
Despite the contact, Allen’s trajectory wasn’t altered a great deal. However, the notorious baller continued forward anyway, colliding with Bulls star DeMar DeRozan and sending him to the floor with a shove to the upper back/neck area.
The exchange had DeRozan and several other Bulls fuming, leaving the officials to break up a near scuffle. Meanwhile, DeRozan and Bucks big man Bobby Portis were both assessed technicals. The players weren’t the only ones who had big reactions, either.
Bulls Twitter Sounds Off on Grayson Allen-DeMar DeRozan Incident
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, members of the Bulls press corps came out with some strong takes on what occurred via Twitter.
Wrote CHGO Sports’ Matt Peck: “‘He pushed me into you’ is utter horsesh*t from a dirty player who’s always been a dirty player… All those replays showed Grayson Allen embellished that contact and threw himself towards DeMar and his forearm into DeMar’s upper back. Has. Always. Been. Dirty.
“F**k that guy.”
Added Daniel Greenberg: “This Grayson Allen guy. Hate him. Hate him.”
For his part, 670 The Score’s Cody Westerlund had a more measured take on what transpired. Although, he, too, took issue with Allen’s actions.
“I don’t think this was really a big deal,” Westerlund tweeted. “Allen exaggerated the contact, he’ll never get benefit of the doubt and doesn’t deserve it, but an arm into the side isn’t a dangerous play. More so annoying.”
Meanwhile, CHGO Sports’ Herb Lawrence wrote: “Grayson Allen does a dirty move. Rinse and repeat.”
Coby White Suffers Injury
Despite the best efforts of all involved, the Bulls point guard situation has been a hot mess this season with Lonzo Ball’s continuing injury saga, Ayo Dosunmu still learning the ways of winning players and free-agent gem Goran Dragic being unable to shoulder much of the load as a 36-year-old.
Now, another Bulls backcourt option — former No. 7 pick Coby White — looks to be dealing with some bumps and bruises of his own.
White, who’s fresh off a 14-point, four-assist night against the Houston Rockets on Monday, was limited to just six minutes of action against the Bucks. The baller left the court early in the second quarter with an apparent left leg injury (as relayed by NBC Sports Chicago’s KC Johnson).
Entering Wednesday’s game, White was averaging 8.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 21.0 minutes per outing with shooting splits of 41-35-79 for the Bulls.