It doesn’t look like Grayson Allen ran into DeMar DeRozan on purpose on Wednesday night.
After all, the Milwaukee Bucks guard was pushed from behind before he sent DeRozan to the court himself in the third quarter of their matchup with the Chicago Bulls at the United Center.
But DeRozan jumped right up immediately and got into Allen’s face in what was a brief confrontation and heated exchange between the two teams.
That exchange, DeRozan said, only happened because it was Allen who pushed him. If it was just about anybody else, he said, he wouldn’t have reacted the way he did.
“It’s his track record. If it was Boban, I wouldn’t have did nothing,” DeRozan said. “Who knows, I didn’t know if it was on purpose or what happened. I just felt an excessive hit, that’s all it was.”
Again, Allen’s incident with DeRozan on Wednesday night appeared to be accidental. But like DeRozan said, he’s had plenty of similar issues dating back to his time at Duke.
Most notably, Allen was suspended briefly last season after a flagrant foul led to Bulls guard Alex Caruso breaking his wrist. That’s sparked a new rivalry with the Bucks and hatred of Allen from Chicago fans.
And even though Patrick Williams was the one who drew the foul for pushing Allen, the Bulls are defending their reaction.
“We know [Allen’s] track record,” Bulls star Zach LaVine said, via NBC Sports Chicago. “Pat got the foul, but DeMar got elbowed in the back of the head. It is what it is. We made up for it with a big win. DeMar responded the right way. The next 20 minutes, you saw what happened.”
Chicago rallied from a 15-point hole in the fourth quarter to beat the Bucks 119-113 in overtime on Wednesday. DeRozan had 42 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls, and LaVine added 24 points and four assists.
Allen had 13 points for the Bucks, who have now lost four straight. He was quick to defend himself after the game, too, saying he didn’t push DeRozan on purpose.
“Exactly what the video showed. I went to set a screen and got bumped into DeMar,” Allen said when asked what happened on the play, via NBC Sports Chicago.
“When you go to get bumped into somebody, you put your arm out to stop yourself. I didn’t try to run him over.”
