Officials threw out New York Knicks forward Bobby Portis in the second quarter of their game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The big man was assessed a flagrant foul 2 for hitting Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on the head as the Lakers guard drove to the basket.
After the game, Portis claimed he had no ill intentions for KCP on that play. He even gave an apology to KCP and was happy to see him finish the game:
“It wasn't intentional at all,” Bobby Portis said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “I went for the ball. My intent was never to hurt anybody or anything like that. Just trying to make a play on the ball. Missed the ball and hit him in the head. My apologies to Caldwell-Pope. Happy to see him go out and do his thing, come back into the game and impact the game.”
Lakers superstar LeBron James did not agree with Bobby Portis' assessment, saying it was a dirty play on the part of the Knicks big man.
Portis smacked Caldwell-Pope right on the head as the latter went up for layup on a fast-break layup attempt. The 6-foot-5 guard took a hard fall and was visibly shaken up. As he laid on the floor while trying to regain his bearings, some of his teammates, namely Rajon Rondo and LeBron James, confronted Portis for the dangerous act.
Fortunately, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope did not suffer any serious injury and was cleared of any concussion-related symptoms. He stayed in the game and went on to score 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
While Bobby Portis said it was unintentional, he definitely took a wild swing as he tried to get to the ball. Instead, he caught KCP on the the way up and put him in a hazardous situation. Let's hope he learns from this mistake and does not repeat it again.
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