Luke Kennard's buzzer-beating three gave the Los Angeles Lakers their ninth straight win Saturday night against the Orlando Magic, 105-104. The victory pushed the Lakers to 46-25 and strengthened their spot as the third seed in the Western Conference. But what snatched a fair share of attention from Kennard's brilliance was a third-quarter exchange between Luka Doncic and Magic center Goga Bitadze.
Both players were eventually assessed technical fouls in the incident. For Doncic, it was his 16th of the season, which meant an automatic one-game suspension. The incident drew commentary from Robert Horry, who appeared on Spectrum SportsNet Live's postgame show alongside Derek Fisher. Horry took issue with the league's handling of the technicals, but couldn't resist bringing up another name.
"I always laugh because I've always seen certain players, I'm not gonna call no names," Horry said, coughing before adding, "Draymond Green, that says things to the refs and they let it slide. But when you say things to another player, there's no pushing or shoving, you wanna call a double tech on the players? Stop taking money out of players' pockets."
Green was going to let that slide. On Monday's episode of "The Draymond Green Show," the Warriors forward fired back. "Robert Horry goes on the show and brings me up in the conversation. Maybe I think he wanted some attention," Green said. "So, everybody let's give him the attention he deserves. But I don't know what I had to do with this."
Doncic had revealed after the game that the two were speaking in Serbian and that Bitadze crossed a line by making unacceptable comments about his family. Bitadze disputed that account, claiming Doncic initiated the exchange by bringing up his mother.
In that regard, Green defended Doncic's decision to respond to Bitadze. He made clear that while he's built a reputation as one of the NBA's most notorious trash-talkers, family talk is different.
"I think there are certain lines you don't cross," Green said. "So respect Luka for standing up to that because that's not something you back down from."
Horry, meanwhile, had advised Doncic to let it go entirely. "You can say whatever you want about my family, my daughter, whatever it is," the seven-time NBA champion said after Saturday's game. "You gotta understand those are just words. Words aren't going to bother you, but getting that L on him is going to bother him more than those words."
Fortunately, the NBA rescinded Doncic's technical on Sunday following a league review, making him eligible against the Pistons on Monday night. The timing couldn't be better for a player in the middle of a historic run.
Doncic has scored at least 30 points in nine consecutive games, averaging 40.0 points, 8.4 rebounds and 7.4 assists over that stretch. That includes a 60-point explosion against Miami on Thursday. The Lakers will very much need that version of Doncic if they're going to push for a deep run.
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