Game 2 was a rock fight between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Neither team was efficient offensively on Tuesday night, and there was plenty of physicality from start to finish.
On his Wednesday podcast, Wright pointed out one play in particular.
Jaden McDaniels fell to the ground after making a shot in the paint to cut LA’s lead to nine with 6:30 to go. His feet got tangled up with Lakers star Luka Doncic‘s, and Doncic hit the deck. Doncic popped up and immediately berated the referees for not calling a foul on McDaniels.
It was a bang-bang tangle up. After reviewing it during the timeout, the officials deemed it not to be a flagrant act by McDaniels.
Wright took Doncic’s side on Wednesday.
In a borderline dirty moment, Jaden McDaniels is one the ground and with his own ankles, grabs Luka’s ankle and Luka tumbles and Luka was livid. … Honestly in today’s NBA, that’s a flagrant foul. That’s a non-basketball dangerous play.
Wright credited Doncic for gathering his emotions after being close to unraveling for the no-call.
It is nearly impossible to tell whether there was any intent from McDaniels. Unsurprisingly, Wright caped up for Doncic and the Lakers as a longtime LeBron defender and promoter.
Part of the reason the refs didn’t call anything may be because of Doncic’s constant antics: selling calls and trying to bait a whistle call. Fans, as well as other series and players, have been vocal about this on social media all playoffs long.
The chippy play in this series won’t be stopping anytime soon. Things head back to Minnesota on Friday night knotted up at 1-1.
