LOS ANGELES (AP) — NBA scoring leader Luka Doncic is facing a one-game suspension after he received his 16th technical foul of the season while scoring 41 points in the Los Angeles Lakers' 116-99 victory over Brooklyn on Friday night.
Doncic got whistled for a double technical foul with the Nets' Ziaire Williams in the third quarter.
Williams was celebrating an offensive foul called against Doncic by gleefully screaming in Doncic’s personal space. When
Doncic reached out to push Williams’ arm, Williams responded with a backhand swipe across Doncic’s face.
“He was yelling in my face three times,” Doncic said. “I just wanted to get out of there. It’s a double tech, of course. What can I say? I didn’t even talk. I just wanted to get out of there. (The referee) said my push was exaggerated, which (it) was obviously not. I don’t know what else to say.”
Officials reviewed the incident before issuing technical fouls to both players.
Doncic has been building steam as an MVP candidate with a monumental scoring binge for the Lakers, who have won 11 of their last 12 as they streak toward the postseason in the third spot in the Western Conference standings.
Along with his NBA-best 33.7 points per game as he closes in on his second scoring title, Doncic is third in the league with 8.2 assists per game. He is also second in 3-pointers made and first with 15 40-point games.
He has been named the West's player of the week in each of the past two weeks, and he has scored at least 30 points in 12 consecutive games, including a 60-point barrage in Miami — where fans serenaded him with “MVP!” chants — preceded by a 51-point effort against Chicago.
NBA players are suspended for one game after picking up a 16th technical foul in a season. Unless Doncic's technical is rescinded — and that's unlikely given the circumstances, which included an in-game video review — he could sit out when Los Angeles hosts the Washington Wizards on Monday night.
“I’m sure we will appeal it,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “I didn’t see it happen.”
Doncic already had a technical rescinded last week after he was whistled for a verbal altercation with Orlando’s Goga Bitadze. The league didn't announce why that T had been rescinded, but Doncic said Bitadze had insulted his family in Serbian — and Bitadze denied it.
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