Brook Lopez ejected for standing up for Giannis Antetokounmpo after Trey Lyles’ shove in Bucks’ win over Kings
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Giannis Antetokounmpo wasn’t quite sure what was happening, only that Brook Lopez had gotten face-to-face with Trey Lyles with 15.4 seconds left of the Milwaukee Bucks’ 133-124 victory over the Sacramento Kings Monday night at the Golden 1 Center.
Antetokounmpo was dribbling the ball up the court to run out the clock when Lyles began poking at the ball, drawing a foul. Lyles then pushed Antetokounmpo, drawing the ire of Lopez.
“Then I just saw Brook being upset and he is usually is not that upset,” Antetokounmpo said. “He was yelling ‘don’t do that again, don’t push him like that.’ Then I realized like oh man, he pushed me in my back. Obviously I appreciate Brook having my back and that’s my guy, not just on the court, off the court, for life he’s my guy.”
Added Lopez, “That’s all I was doing. The game was over. Giannis is dribbling out the clock. I don’t know what that guy was doing messing with Giannis, doing too much. Like I said, the game was already over. So, I just wanted to go out there and protect my guy.”
The Bucks’ 7-footer and the 6-9 Lyles exchanged words before Lyles pushed Lopez in the face, and the two tangled all the way to the scorers table.
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“It was nothing personal,” Lyles told Sacramento media postgame. “But, a bigger guy walks down on me I’m not really one for talking. It takes a lot for me to get out of character. Just not going to go for that.