It wouldn't be a matchup between the Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks without tensions centered on Grayson Allen.
Allen, of course, is reviled by Bulls fans for the flagrant foul that broke Alex Caruso's wrist during a game in Milwaukee last February. The injury wound up costing Caruso 22 games, and the play drew postgame ire from the typically mild-mannered Billy Donovan.
Ever since, Allen has been booed vociferously at the United Center, both during lineup introductions and on every touch of the ball during games.
That dynamic continued during Wednesday's battle between the two sides, which ended in a 119-113 overtime win by the Bulls. And tensions reached a head in the third quarter when Allen was bumped into DeMar DeRozan on a foul by Patrick Williams, then caught DeRozan in the back with his forearm.
DeRozan hit the deck, then promptly popped back up with some words for Allen. The two had to be separated and play stopped for a lengthy review.
Postgame reactions, of course, varied.
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DeRozan and Bulls teammate Zach LaVine cited Allen's track record for questionable plays dating back to his Duke days as context for the reaction.
"If it was Boban (Marjanović), I wouldn't have did nothing. But who knows?" DeRozan said. "I didn't know if it was on purpose or what happened. I just felt a hit. That's all it was."
Added LaVine: "We know his (Allen's) track record. Pat got the foul, but DeMar got elbowed in the back of the head. It is what it is. We made up for it with a big win. DeMar responded the right way. The next 20 minutes, you saw what happened.”
Donovan empathized with DeRozan's first-blush reaction, but conceded postgame that his side initiated the contact.
"I didn't quite see exactly what happened. But for him to respond like that, something happened. DeMar is a pretty even-keeled guy and he got hit in a way that he didn't appreciate," Donovan said. "Some of it may have been Patrick foul. It was inadvertent, so to speak. But DeMar didn't know that at the time.
"They were checking to see if there was maybe a flagrant on DeMar and it ended up being a foul on Patrick. We were obviously at fault with how the thing started."
Allen, meanwhile, maintained that the contact was unintentional and derived from the foul on Williams.
"Exactly what the video showed. I went to set a screen and got bumped into DeMar," Allen told NBC Sports Chicago when asked his perspective on the play.
On his forearm striking DeRozan in the back?
"When you go to get bumped into somebody, you put your arm out to stop yourself," he said. "I didn't try to run him over."
DeRozan said that Allen did not apologize — and he didn't expect one. Allen, as can be seen on video, confirmed he tried to reconcile with DeRozan after the play but never got close enough to speak with him.
"Tensions ran high because he got pushed in the side and he didn't see it," Allen said when asked if he thought his history with the Bulls contributed to DeRozan's reaction. "I think that's probably a normal reaction."
Ultimately, the Bulls got the last laugh by coming back from down 11 points with 2:18 remaining in the fourth quarter to prevail in overtime. DeRozan finished with 42 points (including 17 between the fourth quarter and extra period).
While LaVine guessed DeRozan was a bit extra motivated by the altercation — "he had one thing on his mind, and that's the type of player he is, you don't want to fire somebody up like that" — DeRozan denied any lasting impact from the collision.
"Nah. No man can extra motivate me than what I already am," DeRozan said. "He didn't do nothing for me."