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Jamal CollierESPN
MILWAUKEE — Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan wants the NBA to consider further discipline for Milwaukee Bucks guard Grayson Allen after he was ejected in the third quarter of Milwaukee’s 94-90 victory for a Flagrant 2 foul on Bulls guard Alex Caruso.
Caruso went up for a layup on a fast break with 5:45 remaining in the third quarter, but Allen hooked Caruso’s right arm, turning Caruso in the air and sending him hard to the floor on his right wrist. Caruso said his wrist “a little banged up” after the game, but X-rays came back negative.
“Dude just grabbed me out of the air,” Caruso said after Friday’s game. “It’s kind of bulls—. I don’t know what else you can do about it. I’m just glad that I didn’t have any major scary injuries right away.”
Caruso said his wrist continued to bother him in the second half, especially while shooting. He finished 1 of 6 from the field for 3 points in the second half, but said he did not think the injury would linger long-term.
Caruso added that Allen did not come to check on him following the play.
The foul particularly irked Donovan, who is normally mild-mannered and rarely singles out players. But following Friday’s game, Donovan called Allen’s actions dangerous and cited his history playing college basketball at Duke.
“For Alex to be in the air and for [Allen] to take him down like that, he could’ve ended his career,” Donovan said. “He has a history of this. That to me was really — it was really dangerous. I hope the league takes a hard look at something like that because that could have really, really seriously hurt him.”
This was the first time Allen has been called for a flagrant foul this season and the second such foul in his career — although he was tossed from a Summer League game in 2019 after committing two flagrant fouls within seconds of each other.
“I don’t think Grayson’s a dirty player,” Bucks forward Khris Middleton said. “He’s been great with us all season long. Competing. Defending. Never really crossing the line. So I think we’re all disappointed to see him ejected for that foul.”
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer did not think there was any malicious intent, but he did not argue with the referees decision to assess a Flagrant 2.
“I think it’s a close call,” Budenholzer said. “They went with flagrant 2 and I’m not gonna disagree. It’s right on the border and that’s the direction they went. Just hope for Caruso to be healthy and fine coming out of it. Unfortunate for Grayson, unfortunate for us to have to finish without him. It’s a tough call, but that’s the way they went.”
It’s the first time in Allen’s NBA career that he has been ejected from a game.
“I know this is a physical game and there’s plays at the basket and there’s a lot of contact,” Donovan said, “but there’s a right way you can go up and have physicality when you do that. Not that way in my opinion.”