The Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks have been enemies since late January, when Bucks guard Grayson Allen fouled Alex Caruso on a breakaway dunk, fracturing Caruso’s wrist in the process. Caruso has since recovered from his injury, but the Bulls have not. To add insult to injury, Allen has mocked Chicago’s fan base for holding resentment towards him for the foul.
In the two teams’ final matchup of the season, the tension was still there. Fans were booing, Allen was balling, and the Bucks were rolling the Bulls. But it wouldn’t have been a Bucks-Bulls matchup without controversial foul. Allen, of course, was in the mix. Only this time, he was on the receiving end of the play.
In the fourth quarter of Milwaukee’s 21-point win over Chicago, Allen was driving to the basket when he was hit across the chest by Bulls center Nikola Vucevic. The contact sent Allen to the ground and triggered an official review. Vucevic, who was being sealed off by Bucks center Brooke Lopez during the swipe, was then given a dead ball technical foul.
Following the game, Vucevic made it very clear that he did not intend to target Allen, despite the team’s prior history with the former Duke star.
Did Bulls center Nikola Vucevic deserve a technical for his foul on Grayson Allen?
"“My intention wasn’t to foul or injure him or anything,” Vucevic said. “I got pushed a little bit, and as I tried to go and swipe at the ball, I think it just looked worse in the moment. When you look at the replay, it’s not even that bad. I don’t even understand why I got a tech for it.”"
Vucevic said that he spoke to a few Bucks players on the floor after the play to clear up any misconceptions about his intentions. Allen didn’t have any ill feelings towards Vucevic, with the two dapping up after the review.
"“I didn’t make anything of it,” Allen said. “I honestly didn’t hear the whistle and I don’t think he heard the whistle, either. I had the ball in my left hand, so I think he was coming across my body to make a play on the ball.”"
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer, on the other hand, believes that Vucevic should have received a flagrant foul at the very least.
"“Yeah, I think it crossed the line,” Budenholzer said. “The refs thought it was not enough to be flagrant. … Basically said they looked at it 4-5 times. He didn’t think there was a windup. He didn’t think [it met] whatever the criteria was.”"
Excuse us, coach? Are we not allowed to foul anymore? And your dirty player who finally takes a spill on a reasonably aggressive play is now all of a sudden the victim? Don’t be that soft. Basketball is a physical game and sometimes this happens on a tight play in the paint, especially with this size differential.
Good thing Budenholzer won’t be officiating if these two teams meet in the first round of the playoffs, where it’ll be a lot more tense and physical.