With four seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Tristan Thompson took the ball and dunked it with a two-handed slam. This play generated a lot of displeasure around the Raptors team, as the Cavaliers were already winning by 21 points at the time, and Toronto wasn’t really defending at that point.
Once the match was over, coach Darko Rajakovic labeled the play as “disrespectful” as Cleveland won 131-108 on Wednesday night. While fans booed after the final buzzer, players Scottie Barnes and Jamal Shead confronted Thompson, as they weren’t going to let that just slide.
“I think what Tristan did there was no class and disrespectful,” said the Raptors tactician. “I’m not going to stand for that, for sure. I love when my team stands up for themselves. That was no class.”
Even the Cavaliers coach was confused by the play, as struggled to defend his pupil. “I’m not sure what he was thinking,” Kenny Atkinson said. “Sometimes, though, you’re playing the game, and you just have a reaction. I know with Tristan, there’s no bad intention there. I think just sometimes you’re playing, and the goal of the game is to score. Unfortunate.”
While Barnes didn’t want to address this subject with the media, Shead had no issue with following Rajakovic’s take. “What he did at the end of the game was just a little bit disrespectful to the game of basketball, not just us,” he expressed. “We had a couple of choice words. We’re adults, we’ll move on from it.”
Tristan is a 14-year NBA veteran who has represented Canada in several occasions, even qualifying with the squad to the 2019 FIBA World Cup, before he became an American citizen the following year. Compatriot RJ Barrett understood why his teammates were so upset at him.
“It’s kind of an unwritten rule to not do that at the end. Jamal did what he’s supposed to,” the young Canadian shared postgame, as Cleveland earned their 44th victory of the campaign, which is the most in this NBA season and the most by the Cavs before an All-Star break.
