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ORLANDO, Fla. — A league review has resulted in a flagrant foul assessment against Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry from Sunday’s 115-102 win over Orlando.
Lowry, boxing out under the basket, appeared to swing his hip into Aaron Gordon’s leg as they awaited a rebound at 7:40 of the second quarter in Tampa, Fla. There was no foul assessed on the play
Orlando coach Steve Clifford, while calling Lowry a “terrific player,” said there was no place in basketball for such a play.
“You can end a guy’s career. You can end his season,” he said after Sunday’s game.
Soon after, when the ball came back to the Orlando end, Gordon stepped up and caught Lowry with his shoulder, knocking him to the ground. Gordon, who left in the third quarter with an ankle injury expected to sideline him for several weeks, was assessed a flagrant 1 — the same penalty Lowry got Tuesday.
A flagrant foul penalty 1 is ruled as unnecessary contact committed by a player against an opponent.
Toronto coach Nick Nurse played down the Lowry incident before Tuesday’s rematch in Orlando.
“He’s asked to box out bigger guys a lot,” Nurse said when asked about the play. “It didn’t look to be excessive to me, but it’s not easy for a smaller guy, six foot one or whatever, to block out a 6-8 or 6-10 guy with considerably more weight and size. So I think he goes down there and tries to do the best he can. He’s just trying to make a good solid tough play on that. That’s about it.”
The two players have history.
Gordon was injured last August in the bubble when, after soaring towards the basket, he was taken down hard by a Lowry clothesline.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2021
The Canadian Press
