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DeMar DeRozan didn’t mince words late Friday when asked about the Chicago Bulls’ frustrations boiling over with two technical and two flagrant fouls, one of which led to Nikola Vucevic’s ejection.
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“I think as far as officiating, just call it fair,” DeRozan said. “I think that’s more so where the frustration comes from. When we come down, we feel like we getting hit. They come down and we barely touching them and they’re getting the call. That kind of stings. Just the fairness of the calls was the main focal of our frustration.”
The Bucks shot 32 free throws to the Bulls’ 16. The Bucks shot 12 free throws before the Bulls went to the line for their first attempt.
“It just kept feeling like we was trying to get a call and get downhill. It felt like a couple drives Coby (White) was getting fouled and didn’t call it. They had somebody come down and do the same type of moves and they get the whistle. That becomes frustrating when it continuously happens throughout the game. We can’t get a call and find a rhythm,” DeRozan said. “It seemed like it was more so in their favor being aggressive playing us defensively and we couldn’t do the same. Not necessarily even us getting calls. Just make it a fair thing. Let us be physical on the other end too.”
DeRozan’s frustration boiled over with 31 seconds left in the third quarter when he committed a flagrant-one foul on Bobby Portis Jr. DeRozan, who also received a technical foul on the play, said he felt Portis Jr. disrespected him by staring him down.
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“He did it one time. That’s all it takes for me. I don’t care who it is. It could be the janitor in the hallway,” DeRozan said. “Look at me a certain type of way. Like, just play basketball. Get the rebound and play. I’ve just never been a player with the extra theatrics.
“As long as I’ve played the game, I’m big on respect. I don’t play the whole games staring down somebody, trying to disrespect anybody. I’m all about competing, doing your thing, all of that. But I feel anything disrespectful any type of way, I don’t accept that. Because I wouldn’t do it to nobody else, stand over somebody or look over somebody. It’s just my respect of the game. When I feel like it’s done to me, that’s when I take it a certain way.”
Vucevic owned his flagrant-two foul that occurred with 9:27 left and said he planned to apologize to AJ Green, who he absolutely leveled with no attempt at the ball.
“Just a little frustration. Not just the no-calls. I was having a bit of a rough game, not playing as well. In the moment, lost my cool a little too much. Definitely not a foul I should’ve made,” Vucevic said. “Could’ve been a dangerous play. Lucky nothing happened to AJ Green. I gotta hold my cool a little better. It happened. Move on.”
Coach Billy Donovan, without offering specifics, said he tried to warn the officials early in the game about where the tenor and physical nature was headed. The implication was the officials should get control of the game.
But Donovan refused to use officiating as an excuse for the Bulls’ 16-point loss.
“I do think we have to look at how we can respond in those situations better, how we can control the emotional level better,” Donovan said.