With the margin in the NBA Cup West Quarterfinal between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns approaching 40 points, tensions momentarily flared — and one player got ejected.
Midway through the third quarter, Phoenix Suns guard Grayson Allen was on defense near the right wing when he braced himself and threw his weight into Thunder center Chet Holmgren, who was trying to slide past Allen into the right corner. Holmgren crashed into Allen and tumbled to the court, which led to Thunder forward Jalen Williams walking over to Allen and shoving him.
‘Felt like I gave a good foul within the physicality of the game and what was going on both ends, especially with the bumps on screens, some of the hits on blockouts that were happening,’ Allen told reporters after the game, an eventual 138-89 Oklahoma City victory. ‘It was straight up. He was cutting into me. Definitely a foul, but I thought it was within the physicality of the game. I think the reaction afterwards kind of played into that.’
Players from each team then squared up, though officials were quick to defuse the situation and restore calm.
Upon replay review, NBA referee James Williams announced that Allen was being administered a flagrant 2 foul, prompting Allen’s ejection from the game. Williams cited windup and follow-through in assessing the flagrant foul.
Allen disagreed with Williams’ assessment of the foul.
‘When he said the explanation, I thought that was the description of a flagrant 1,’ Allen said. ‘They looked at it a bunch of times. I didn’t feel like there was wind up. I braced myself. Definitely delivered a bump and a hard foul, but it was straight up.’
Allen has had a history of physical — if not reckless — play on the court, including one incident against a Thunder player.
Back in January 2022, when Allen was a member of the Bucks, the NBA suspended him for one game without pay after he ‘made unnecessary and excessive contact’ on current Oklahoma City guard Alex Caruso, who was then with the Bulls. During that play, Caruso was driving to the basket on a fastbreak when Allen lunged at Caruso’s arms and flung him down to the court. Allen received a flagrant 2 foul on that play and was subsequently ejected.
Caruso ended up suffering a wrist fracture on the play and missed the following 22 games, which was nearly two months.
Allen developed a reputation at Duke and early in his NBA career for making perceived dirty plays. In July 2019, during a summer league game when he was a member of the Memphis Grizzlies, Allen was ejected after he received two flagrant fouls in the span of seven seconds — both of which were against then-Celtics forward Grant Williams.
While he was at Duke, then-Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski stripped Allen of his captaincy after he tripped players out of frustration, which also led to a suspension.
Allen left Wednesday’s game against the Thunder having recorded 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting and added 4 assists, 1 rebound and 1 steal.
‘I just think when two really good teams are going at it and being physical, plays happen,’ Holmgren told reporters after the game. ‘I think it was officiated correctly, but it happened and then I moved on and kept trying to play the basketball game.’
The Thunder went on to rout the Suns, 138-89. Oklahoma City will play the winner of the other NBA Cup West Quarterfinal game Wednesday night between the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers.
The NBA Cup West Semifinal is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 13 in Las Vegas.
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