Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic is not making a big deal of his scuffle with Hassan Whiteside late in the fourth quarter of Game 5 against the Utah Jazz.
Doncic and Whiteside got heated after the Jazz big man fouled the Mavs guard hard as he was attempting a dunk. Although it doesn't look like there's a malicious intent in his initial attempt to block Doncic, Whiteside might have done too much when he seemingly slammed the youngster to the floor with extra force while they were entangled.
Hassan Whiteside vs. the Mavs. 😳
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) April 26, 2022
Sure enough, chaos ensued after as the Mavs quickly went at Hassan Whiteside in a bid to protect Luka Doncic. Reggie Bullock and Whiteside were then ejected from the contest.
In his postgame presser after the Mavs won 102-77 and secured aa 3-2 lead, Doncic opened up about the fight and played it down, noting that it's just normal playoff basketball.
“Oh nothing. It's playoffs, man. It's playoffs. There's always going to be tension. I tried to dunk and wasn't successful. But it's playoffs, man. It's playoffs,” Doncic said of the skirmish, per Mike Leslie of WFAA Dallas.
Sure enough, the playoffs has always been highly physical, though Whiteside's foul could have some frustration in it since the Jazz were trailing big at that time. It's a good thing for Luka that he's able to quickly move on from the incident, though.
The Mavs need him to focus at the task at hand, which is closing out the series. With that said, he can't really focus too much on the little things.
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