Following the Sacramento Kings’ 129-118 win over the Milwaukee Bucks at BMO Harris Bradley Center on Wednesday, "players from both teams jawed in the tunnel and the hallway,” according to Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel.
Per Gardner, Bucks guard O.J. Mayo yelled at Kings center DeMarcus Cousins toward the end of the game, reportedly telling him to meet him in the hallway. Sources told Gardner that Bucks players—who were accompanied by security personnel on their way back to the locker room—ultimately escorted Mayo to his car after the game.
It was a night of frustrations for Milwaukee, as head coach Jason Kidd was ejected in the game's final minutes after he knocked the ball out of a referee's hands. Kidd said after the game he was trying to protect his players, who he felt were being fouled and weren't getting any calls, though he blamed the team's loss on a lack of defense.
"We had our discussion. He gave me a (technical)," Kidd told reporters after the game. "From there, I was trying to protect my guys. Understanding that we felt that we were getting fouled and the whistle wasn't being blown. My job is to protect those young guys. But that wasn't the issue of the game. They got our temperature and saw we didn’t want to play defense."
The Bucks haven't played much defense in general this year, as the team is giving up 105.6 points per game and has stumbled to a 6-9 start, perhaps another underlying factor in both Kidd's and Mayo's frustrations late in the game. Nonetheless, the lack of discipline on display Wednesday night isn't a great sign for a team trying to turn around a poor start to the season in what has proved to be a deep Eastern Conference early in the year.
