The Oklahoma City Thunder’s 104-95 home win against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday was marred by a late-game skirmish between Luguentz Dort and Jeremiah Fears, who had to be separated in the final seconds of the game when the former shoved the latter during a loose ball.
Both benches cleared, and cooler heads eventually prevailed. During the postgame press conference, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander kept it real about the incident.
“I wasn’t too sure what happened. I had heard them going back and forth after the last two free throws,” Gilgeous-Alexander said via Josue Pavon of ClutchPoints. “But I wasn’t sure what happened. Then, I turned around, and they were face-to-face. I’m sure it was nothing crazy. Typical basketball scuffle.”
The Oklahoma City Thunder snapped their two-game home skid, as Gilgeous-Alexander posted a game-high 29 points, six rebounds, and four assists on 8-for-22 shooting from the field and 13-for-14 shooting from the charity stripe.
Oklahoma City Thunder News: Mark Daigneault blasts the officials for losing control of the game
For Mark Daigneault, the late-game scuffle between Luguentz Dort and Jeremiah Fears wasn’t a surprise and could’ve been prevented, as the chippiness between the Oklahoma City Thunder and New Orleans Pelicans had been building up throughout the contest.
“Two things on it. The first one is: I thought good guys, good crew, but I thought they lost control of the game in the final minutes. That altercation at the end started well before that with the Bey and J-Will situation. I thought they could have managed that cleaner,” Daigneault explained. “Then, the second thing is: I think that’s a foul on Dort.
“And if it was, they should put a whistle on that play regardless of the score and the time, because if they do that, everybody stops playing, and you can legislate the situation as you normally would. But, because they didn’t put a whistle on it, it’s the end of the game. You can do nothing about it, and you end up with that situation,” he added.
