Derrick Jones Jr. elbowed Grayson Allen in the closing moments of the Bucks’ 118-112 victory on Friday. Image: Getty Images
Whether it was intentional or, as Derrick Jones Jr. insists, accidental, the Bulls finally (sort of) got their revenge on Grayson Allen. In a late-January game between the Bucks and the Bulls, Allen committed a flagrant 2 foul that put Bulls point guard Alex Caruso out of action for months with a broken wrist.
Bulls fans and players were furious, and Allen reacted harshly. He received a one-game suspension, which Milwaukee publicly disagreed with, and Bulls coach Billy Donovan spoke out against Allen in the post-game press. conference.
Last night, in a close game that Chicago lost 118-112, Jones Jr. elbowed Allen in the head and ran a hip through the former Duke star while defending the layup attempt. Allen fell to the ground, but quickly got up without sustaining any serious injury. Jones Jr. was handed a blatant 1, and while many Bulls fans were ecstatic about the foul, the Bulls forward insisted the elbow was accidental.
“I’m not a dirty player,” Jones Jr. said after the game, according to ESPN. “Honestly, I have talked to every referee that was there today. I didn’t think it was egregious. They said I hit him on the head. I didn’t even feel it. I just felt it hit my thigh and fall. That’s all I felt.”
Since signing with the Bucks in 2021, Allen has quickly turned into a villain for the Bulls fan base, who booed him loudly every time he stepped onto the court or touched the ball at United Center last night in a game. which left the Bucks and Bulls in third place in the Eastern Conference. However, Allen was accustomed to booing, and said the same number, gaining quite a few contending crowds during his duchy years.
There were questions about whether the Bulls, who lost four times in a row, would try to get revenge on Allen for seriously injuring their starting quarterback, and Tristan Thompson fueled the rumor mill on the matter despite only spending two weeks in Chicago. .
“Take one of my dogs like this, we’ll be in trouble,” Thompson said on Thursday. “You have to set the tone. What he did affected one of our guys and I don’t think anyone should forget about it.”
Both Donovan and Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer seemed to want to just forget about the incident, and Jones Jr. (who also got dunked in a video on reigning Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo) told reporters that he would never deliberately foul. on someone, perhaps stabbing Allen himself, who has been known for his dirty game since his college days.
“I want to be stopped just as much as they want to be stopped at the other end,” Jones Jr. said. “We didn’t like what happened in Milwaukee. Obviously we didn’t like it. Nobody liked it. But, I mean, I’m not going to go in there and just try to take the person out.”