CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Collin Sexton, who was on the wrong end of Luka Doncic’s below-the-belt swipe early in the third quarter Sunday night, said there’s no history between the 2018 first-round picks that might’ve led to Doncic losing his cool.
“Just a basketball play at the end of the day,” said Sexton, the Cavaliers’ leading scorer who finished with 24 points in the 124-97 loss. “We’re both competitors. It was just one of those things. Just a boxout play. Usually when someone is hand-checking you, punch down or swing down, but it was just at the groin. It’s all good.”
At the 10:05 mark of the third quarter, Sexton and Doncic jostled for rebounding position underneath the basket. Sexton initiated contact with his shoulder, bumping Doncic, who reacted by swinging his right arm, hitting Sexton in the groin, staring him down briefly and then shoving Sexton. The whistle blew as the shot clock expired and lead referee David Guthrie, closest to the baseline on the play, called a foul on Doncic.
The officiating crew gathered for a moment and then went to the video monitors to take a closer look. Following a lengthy replay review, which led to groans from fans inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse who kept watching the incident on Humongotron, Guthrie ruled that Doncic made “an aggressive strike to the groin area” of Sexton and was assessed a flagrant foul 2 -- an automatic ejection.
“After I saw the video, I knew I hit him, but it wasn’t nothing on purpose,” said Doncic, who had 15 points, five rebounds and five assists before being tossed. “I think that kind of stuff happens a lot in games, but I don’t know. That’s my explanation. It obviously wasn’t on purpose. It was just two guys fighting for a rebound, I guess.”
While a few members of the Cleveland bench pointed to the locker room and waved goodbye, Doncic was incredulous. His eyes grew wide -- a real-life impersonation of the popular emoji. He even giggled as he walked off the court.
Doncic said he thought the review was to determine whether his foul occurred before the shot clock violation.
“That’s what I thought they were looking at,” Doncic said. “I was really surprised when they called a flagrant 2.”
Sexton made the two free throws, cutting Dallas’ lead to single digits. Cleveland, which entered the night riding a nine-game losing skid and was coming off a 20-point loss to the Mavericks two nights earlier, appeared to have an opening. Not quite. Dallas outscored the Cavs 30-13 the rest of the way, taking control of the game and cruising to another blowout victory.
“The momentum swung and we were supposed to try to capitalize, but we just couldn’t hit no shots,” Sexton said. “When it’s like that, we have to just figure a way to pick things up and continue to push forward. We didn’t do that.”
This is the second time in the last few months an opponent has gone at the feisty, competitive Cavalier who never backs down.
Norman Powell, playing with the Toronto Raptors before a trade to Portland, exchanged words with Sexton during Cleveland’s 116-105 win over the Raptors on March 21. That late-half dustup led to teammate Fred VanVleet getting involved. In a follow-up chat with reporters, VanVleet not only addressed that incident, but shared some harsh words about Sexton, pointing to the importance of character and how his personal judgment on any opponent will always go beyond their level of play. VanVleet, who didn’t speak with Sexton on the court afterward, said he relayed that pointed message to Darius Garland.
When the Cavs and Raptors played once again about three weeks later, Sexton’s attempted postgame handshake with Raptors center Chris Boucher was rebuffed, leading to questions about why the opposition seems to dislike Sexton and whether that should be cause for concern moving forward.
“With Collin, and I think it’s unique to today’s game, he doesn’t try to befriend everybody,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said in early April. “A lot of these guys are friends from the AAU circuit and agents and all that stuff. Collin goes out there and hoops and he doesn’t care who’s in front of him. He’s not trying to build relationships. He’s trying to go out and compete. And I love that about Collin.”
Apparently Doncic didn’t.
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