The Utah Jazz manhandled the Milwaukee Bucks in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s East vs. West bout. The Bucks looked like they were in control of the contest as they entered the final frame with a 95-83 lead. The Jazz, however, had other plans.
Utah outscored the Bucks by a whopping 27 points in the fourth quarter, resulting in a 123-108 victory for the home side.
One of the more controversial moments from Sunday’s contest came in the second quarter when Giannis Antetokounmpo took an elbow to the face courtesy of Jazz guard Collin Sexton:
Giannis immediately hit the deck and it looked like he was in considerable pain. For good measure, Sexton looked like he had something to say to the Bucks talisman as the Jazz guard stood over Antetokounmpo.
Malik Beasley did not appreciate the gesture from Sexton, and he decided to let him know. The two former teammates had to be separated and both were issued technical fouls for the scuffle.
Bucks head coach Doc Rivers spoke about the indicent after the game, and he seemed to have pinned the blame on the referees. Rivers pointed out that Sexton stepped out of bounds before he drove to the basket — a violation which the game officials missed.
According to Coach Doc, the fracas could have been avoided if the refs did their job correctly, via Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“He did it in a smart way – not a flagrant way, you know what I’m saying?” Rivers said. “I thought the whole thing would’ve been over if they just called the out of bounds when Sexton stepped out of bounds on that play. Then none of that happens. But they missed that, which they said they did when they looked at the replay.”
Rivers then went on to say that he believes Sexton not only hit Giannis in the face, but that the Jazz vet also didn’t have to stand over Antetokounmpo.
“I didn’t see anything other than; I didn’t see – I don’t think he hit Giannis on purpose. But he did hit him, I think,” Rivers continued. “I’m not even sure in this day, you never know. And then what I thought got Malik upset is Sexton kind of stood over him. That’s where, to me, if you blow the whistle on that, the rest doesn’t happen.”
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