Presented by Nationwide Insurance Agent Jeff Vukovich
SALT LAKE CITY --- The Chicago Bulls' victory over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night featured a minor scuffle in the waning seconds.
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Following Collin Sexton's intentional foul on DeMar DeRozan to stop the clock with 9.3 seconds left and the Jazz trailing by one point, Bulls forward Torrey Craig, who was in street clothes, approached Sexton and exchanged words. The foul occurred directly in front of the Bulls' bench.
As the jawing continued, Bulls assistant coach Chris Fleming tried to separate the two players as a mass of bodies moved in on the situation. At that point, Jazz forward John Collins entered the fracas, and Fleming appeared to tried to hold off Collins.
Fleming and Collins then exchanged shoves, and replays appeared to indicate that Collins moved his hand close to Fleming's neck.
See the footage here:
"Collin and TCraig got into a little, they're talking. I ran over. I'm standing there and the coach comes over and just shoves me for no reason. You all can go watch the film," Collins told reporters inside the Jazz locker room after the game. "And I just protected myself. I was just standing there and the dude just puts a forearm in my chest and is pushing me back.
"He needs some more self-control. It's whatever. I don't know what to say about that. That was weird . . . I've never had a coach touch me like that. That was a first."
It will be intriguing to see if the NBA league office metes out more discipline. It's rare for a coach-player physical incident.
In the moment, the officiating crew took a long time to sort out the in-game punishment. Fleming and Craig received technical fouls, as did Collins. The offset allowed the Jazz to shoot one free throw, which tied the game before DeRozan then made his two free throws.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan wasn't happy with his team losing its cool in that moment.
"I saw DeMar get fouled and I don't know if he was grabbing his face or holding his face," Donovan said. "Torrey said something, came over. I think Chris Fleming was trying to hold everybody off to kind of separate. And then from there, it just kind of escalated and I stepped in to try to break it up a little bit.
"I don't look at it from a Utah situation at all. I look at it from our situation. And we have to be better in those moments. Not only did we lose a point on a technical foul, we also iced our free-throw shooter. And I give DeMar a lot of credit for being mentally tough enough. I understand the emotion and intensity of games. But whether it's complaining or frustrated, it's not helping anything. We gotta do a better job."