ORLANDO — The Los Angeles Lakers have already appealed to the NBA to rescind Luka Doncic’s technical foul from L.A.’s 105-104 win on Saturday, a team source told ESPN, while Doncic and Orlando Magic center Goga Bitadze offered differing accounts of what led to the tech being called.
It was Doncic’s 16th technical of the season. If it is not rescinded, he will have to serve a one-game suspension when the Lakers play the Detroit Pistons on Monday for reaching the threshold.
Referee Marat Kogut whistled Doncic and Bitadze for a double technical with 1:19 remaining in the third quarter after the two exchanged words while Doncic was at the free throw line.
“I’m definitely hoping [it is rescinded],” Doncic said after the game. “Obviously, I let my team down getting that last tech. But honestly, I wasn’t trying to. [Bitadze] said at the free throw, he would f— my whole family. And at some point, this is a basketball court. At some point, I just can’t stand it. I got to stand up for myself. But I know I got to do better.
“My teammates, I know they have my back, so I let them down today. But hopefully, it gets rescinded.”
Bitadze, in a phone interview with ESPN and the Orlando Sentinel, said Doncic cursed at him in Serbian first and Bitadze merely repeated the same curse back to him.
“I have all the respect for Luka and what he has done,” Bitadze said. “And I really respect everybody’s family. Where I come from, it’s really sacred and we really respect each other’s families, and I would never directly say that. He just said some inappropriate things in the Serbian language, which, I played in Serbia, I understand.
“I don’t know if he knew I understood what he said. So, I just said it back. And it was nothing towards his family or anybody. His family, I really, truly respect them.”
When asked to clarify what barbs were volleyed between the two, Bitadze said: “He said something about my mother, which, it’s really inappropriate. We don’t say that stuff during the game. … So I just said whatever he told me or [about] my mother [and] said it back.”
Bitadze added: “It was just in the heat of the moment. I heard what he said, and I felt like I had to respond the same way. So, from my side, if he feels like I said something too much or crossed the line, I apologize as a man. I can take [accountability], but I didn’t say anything, but what he said.”
In the Lakers’ appeal, a team source told ESPN, L.A. asked that the league review the incident late in the third quarter and expressed that the officials should have issued a warning before the techs.
Crew chief Marc Davis, in a pool report conducted after the game, explained why the technicals were called — and said that a warning was given.
“Doncic and Bitadze were both assessed technical fouls for their continual taunting of one another,” Davis said. “They were both warned to cease their comments directed towards one another between the two free throws. After the free throw and as the ball entered the frontcourt, they were both correctly assessed technical fouls for their unsportsmanlike comments directed towards one another.”
Doncic reached 16 technicals in two different seasons during his time with the Dallas Mavericks earlier in his career, only to have the 16th technical rescinded both times.
Despite picking up the tech and shooting 2-for-13 in the second half (0-for-7 from 3), Doncic finished with 33 points and eight assists, and the Lakers extended their winning streak to nine straight games.
