Well, these two won’t want to see each other any time soon.
Chippy, physical play between Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort and New Orleans Pelicans rookie guard Jeremiah Fears bubbled throughout Oklahoma City’s 104-95 victory on Tuesday, Jan. 27 before a shoving match erupted after regulation.
As the Pelicans were trying to score a late basket in garbage time, Fears collected an offensive rebound and tried to put up a scoop layup before he drew contact from Dort. Fears immediately turned to face Dort, who shoved Fears twice, first lightly, and then with more force once Fears didn’t back down.
Eventually, both players clasped the other’s jersey in balled fists and were trying to shove the other backward before teammates, assistant coaches and officials stepped in to try to deescalate the situation.
At its height, around 40 people were in the scrum, trying to separate each side. Dort and Fears continued to jaw toward each other, though players and assistants did a good job of separating the two, until Fears broke free and continued to chase Dort down the floor.
Dort eventually walked toward the locker room, while Fears was ushered toward the New Orleans tunnel by two staffers.
There had been another altercation, a minor one, prior to the one between Dort and Fears. During an inbounds play with 1:18 left in the game, Pelicans forward Saddiq Bey and Thunder forward Jaylin Williams shoved each other as they were battling for positioning.
“Good guys, good (officiating) crew, but I thought they lost control of the game in the final minutes,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said after the game. “I thought that altercation at the end started well before that.
“The second thing is: I think that’s a foul on Dort,” Daigneault continued, speaking about the last shot attempt Fears took in the final seconds. “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.”
As Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was sinking a pair of late free throws to ice the game, he said he overheard Fears and Dort jawing at each other during the dead ball.
“I wasn’t too sure what happened,” Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters after the game. “I had heard them going back and forth after they made the last two free throws, but I wasn’t sure what happened. And then, I turned around and they were face-to-face. I’m sure it was nothing crazy, though. Typical basketball scuffle.”
Fears scored 7 points on 3-of-9 shooting and added 3 steals, 2 rebounds and 1 assist.
Dort, a defensive-minded player whose physicality often pushes the limits of what’s acceptable, scored 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting and had 8 rebounds and 3 assists.