Luguentz Dort is a dirty player.
I’m not saying this take is completely unheard of. Dort, along with most players on the Thunder, benefits from a whistle blow that the rest of the league is not given. Friday night’s matchup between the Nuggets and Thunder showed it in full effect.
This game was very physical from start to finish. These two teams don’t like each other, and a lot of that seems to stem from the SGA vs. Jokic MVP debate. Jokic is probably the better player. But Gilgeous-Alexander won MVP last year and eliminated the Nuggets from the playoffs.
Things are different this time. Jokic has had a lot more help than he has in the past. Denver isn’t fully healthy yet, but we’ve seen in moments what this team can do in the playoffs.
OKC and Denver met earlier this month, but the Nuggets were still without several role players and Jokic had a slightly down night in his second game back from injury. Still, we saw a level of chipping in this game that we don’t normally see in the NBA.
What happened Friday has been the build-up to most of both seasons.
While trying to play defense again on a made basket, Dort intentionally checked Jokic and tripped him, leading to a mid-court fight between Jokic and Jaylin Williams.
Dort received a flagrant two points and was ejected from the game. Coach Daigneault disagreed. He argued that now that this precedent has been established, any player who trips someone running to the floor should be ejected.
In most cases, when something like this happens, the player should be sent off. The Rocket’s Tari Eason did something similar earlier this week, which led to Vince Williams Jr. tearing his ACL. Although physical prowess is great in basketball, dumb plays like the one Dort made are dangerous and could potentially injure a superstar like Jokic.
Another key factor is that Dort leaves no room for doubt. This is not a one-time play. He’s a Draymond Green-like character who always walks the line between fair and foul.
Dort has countless plays like this. If you think the person is close to doing something dirty, you have to take that person out of the game and pay a fine. Because the guy is constantly committing non-basketball fouls.
The Thunder went on to win in OT, but luckily these teams met again less than 10 days later, so I doubt that’s the end of this fight.
