Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan nonetheless isn’t sure precisely what Nikola Vučević stated to the officers to earn a double-technical ejection from Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Donovan was effectively inside earshot when Vučević shouted down referee Sean Corbin after receiving his first technical foul, which instantly triggered a second technical from crew chief Tony Brothers. It wasn’t a matter of quantity or proximity; Vučević was talking Serbian, a language that Donovan, Brothers and Corbin don’t perceive.
“I don’t know how they can T him up when he’s talking Serbian,” Donovan stated after the sport. “He may have been asking them if they wanted to go out to dinner that night.”
Vučević solely curses in Serbian when he’s on the court docket, a trait that usually helps him to keep away from hassle as a sometimes levelheaded veteran. But that didn’t shield him within the second quarter Sunday — and his ejection practically upended a crucial win for the Bulls.
Officials are sometimes anticipated to provide gamers just a few moments to settle down after receiving a technical. Donovan advocated for this to Brothers, who reviewed the play earlier than informing Donovan there was sufficient time between the 2 fouls for Vučević to settle himself.
“They felt like there was enough of a delay after the first one for him to kind of step away,” Donovan stated. “And he didn’t. I don’t have any problem at all with the officials in that moment, I just thought in the moment it was just like ‘bang, bang.’”
The Bulls recovered from Vučević’s absence by relying closely on heart Andre Drummond, who began the second half. Drummond completed with 12 factors and eight rebounds as he helped the Bulls shut down Lakers star heart Anthony Davis, who scored solely 15 factors.
Vučević took duty for his decision-making following the sport, however praised Drummond’s capacity to rapidly step into his place and shut the sport.
“Obviously it was a bad decision by me to react the way I did in a game as important as it is for us,” Vučević stated. “I’ve got to control my emotions a little better in the moment. It was my mistake, I’m just glad my teammates came through and won the game for us. It makes me feel a little less bad about myself.”
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com