"There's no love lost."
"These teams REALLY don't like each other."
"An old-fashioned slobberknocker."
All of these cliches could be used to describe a chippy Game 3 of the Raptors-Wizards NBA playoff series.
Hostilities started less than three minutes into the first quarter Friday when the Wizards' Markieff Morris hit the Raptors' OG Anunoby with a shoulder and the rookie responded with a hard shove.
Markieff Morris shoves Raptors' OG Anunoby and things get heated between Wizards and Raptors pic.twitter.com/PyxCrJHWVj
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) April 21, 2018
Both players received a technical foul, and Anunoby was also given a common foul for pulling Morris to the floor.
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Later in the first half, Raptors guard Kyle Lowry was given a flagrant foul after appearing to hit Wizards guard Bradley Beal on the head while going for a block. Beal got up quickly after the initial contact and angrily ran over to the referee, but nothing appeared to come from that.
Things really heated up in the third quarter.
The stakes are high. The tensions are higher. pic.twitter.com/NgL01IYAfh
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 21, 2018
When all was said and done, Beal, John Wall and Serge Ibaka all received technical fouls.
A couple questions remain after this incident:
Should Jonas Valanciunas have been given a foul for playing keepaway from Beal? What did Wall say to Ibaka in the scrum that caused the big man to react like that?
In the end, the Wizards turned the skirmish to their advantage and rattled off an 8-0 run shortly thereafter. They ended the third quarter leading by 19 points — a lead they carried until the final buzzer for a 122-103 victory.
There was a lot of talk after the game about the bad blood.
Wizards guard Kelly Oubre Jr. praised Morris for his toughness.
Kelly Oubre Jr. credited Markieff Morris for setting the tone in the game during that shoving match.
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) April 21, 2018
Oubre: “OG didn’t read the scouting report. He didn’t know Keef is one of the people you don’t mess with in the world.”
Morris talked about the importance of being physical.
Markieff Morris on setting the physical tone: “Nobody’s gonna fight me.” pic.twitter.com/NyhZFQzA4q
— WizardsXTRA (@WizardsXTRA) April 21, 2018
Wall discussed being a good teammate.
More from Wall: "It's the playoffs. We're down 2-0. We're just being aggressive. We know ain't nobody out there trying to fight or going to fight anybody. But if my teammates get into anything, I'm trying to back those guys up and play a physical, aggressive game."
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) April 21, 2018
Raptors guard Delon Wright said the chippiness is part of what playoff basketball is all about — as did Beal.
Delon Wright: "I mean, everybody's competitive, so sometimes guys are talking and it gets a little chippy or whatever. We just have to do a better job of realizing they're probably trying to get us off our game and stay focused, not let them get to us."
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) April 21, 2018
Chalk it up to postseason intensity. pic.twitter.com/XX0mGJqQQD
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 21, 2018