There was no love lost between former Chicago Bulls teammates Bobby Portis and Lauri Markkanen on Tuesday night as the Bulls hosted Portis' Washington Wizards at the United Center. The former Bull was charged with a flagrant foul for hitting Markkanen on the face following a rather conspicuous block attempt:
To be fair, Bobby Portis did appear to make an attempt on the ball, but was a split-second late as Lauri Markkanen had already taken the ball down. However, what makes the foul look a tad malicious is Portis' follow-through. Watching the replay, you can see that he attempted a second slap using is offhand. It only grazed Markkanen's face, but clearly, Portis was no longer going for the ball here.
With this recent incident, we can't help but bring up Portis' infamous altercation with then-Bulls teammate Nikola Mirotic before the start of last season. Surely, Portis' actions were much more deliberate then, and we could probably chalk this one off as his competitive spirit on full display. Nothing personal, I guess?
Nevertheless, Portis' antics did very little to deter Markkanen's onslaught on Wednesday, as the 7-foot power forward led a Zach LaVine-less Bulls side to an overtime victory against the Wizards, 126-120.
Lauri Markkanen was on fire Wednesday, scoring a game-high 32 points on 12-of-21 shooting, along with five 3-pointers, 13 rebounds, five assists, and a block.
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