The Milwaukee Bucks was already playing without Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo in Game 4. Then they lost Bobby Portis after just a few minutes.
Portis & Nembhard exchanging shoves pic.twitter.com/W6ZDB9JXNE
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) April 28, 2024
Portis got tangled up with Indiana's Andrew Nembhard under the basket. Both got technical fouls for their shoving match, but Portis got a second technical and an ejection for throwing an open-handed slap at Nembhard.
The first quarter had five technicals, though the first two were pretty soft. First, Pascal Siakam got T'd up for staring down Portis, after he faked him out for an easy dunk.
SIAKAM EARLY TAKEOFF ✈️
— NBA (@NBA) April 28, 2024
Bucks-Pacers | Game 4 on TNT pic.twitter.com/kQmcqME4CK
Then Patrick Beverley got a technical foul after doing his beloved "too small" celebration, which could have been a make-up call for being so strict about Siakam. Players have been doing "too small" to each other all season, and it rarely leads to technicals.
Perhaps the referees were trying to de-escalate some of the tensions in the game by showing zero tolerance for taunting. But that didn't stop the Portis-Nembhard conflict, with Portis being unbelievably reckless with his team shorthanded.
What's Doc Rivers' solution? He's leaning on Brook Lopez offensively, and he's taking Danilo Gallinari out of his bubble-wrapped container, giving the forward his first playing time in 16 days.
Gallinari isn't the same defensive player as Portis, but on the plus side, he's very unlikely to slap anyone.
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