Bulls power forward Bobby Portis isn’t the type of person to back down. Obviously not to teammates, and definitely not to the likes of Wizards shooting guard Jodie Meeks.
In the wake of Portis’ flagrant-2 foul that knocked forward Tomas Satoransky out of the game, Meeks was critical of the play.
“If a guy has a clear lane to the basket, if you can’t get there, let him go, don’t try to take him out,” Meeks said. “Obviously not everybody abides by those rules.’’
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Portis went after Meeks on Twitter on Sunday, saying, “bruh shut up. You sound foolish. Anybody watching the vid know I went for the ball.’’
And he doubled down before the game Monday with the Magic.
“I mean, I don’t like that [Meeks] said I didn’t abide by the rules,’’ Portis said. “In what basketball world does it say just let a man go lay the ball up? If a man has a clear path to the lane just let him lay it up. Where I’m from, that’s not basketball. So I just thought it was stupid.
“I’m going to play as hard as I can. I was just competing on the ball, made a basketball play. I can’t control how the man feels. At the same time, I feel like I blocked the shot. I can’t argue with the officials. They called what they called. At the same time, I don’t think it was the right call.’’
The incident happened with just 2:35 left in the fourth quarter as Satoransky was driving baseline to the hoop. Portis attempted to block the shot, but appeared to catch Satoransky on the arm and slightly to the head. The contact knocked Satoransky off balance, and he crashed hard to the floor, hitting his head.
Portis said after the game that he was simply going for the block. Even coach Fred Hoiberg defended his big man again Monday.
“When you look at these type of things that happen with players and altercations, they happen a lot more than people think,’’ Hoiberg said. “Bobby’s a competitive player, Niko’s a competitive player. And things escalated and things happened and we dealt with it and moved forward.
“I’ll say this about Bobby Portis: He’s a wonderful kid, one of the most polite kids I’ve ever been around. Yes sir, no sir. Yes ma’am, no ma’am, type of kid who’s very competitive when he steps on the floor. So again, I said it the other night, there was nothing dirty about that play. I feel bad for Satoransky. With the way he fell, I hope he’ll be okay. But the play itself from Bobby’s standpoint I don’t think it was a dirty play.’’
NOTE: Kris Dunn (concussion) and Cameron Payne (right foot) practiced with the G-League Windy City Bulls on Monday and will be re-evaluated Tuesday.
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