Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown advocated for his team after forward Trey Lyles got into a heated altercation with Milwaukee Bucks center Brook Lopez.
"I don't know what happened, but we ain't taking no shit from nobody," Brown said postgame after Monday's 133-124 loss. "Trust me on that. And they're all going to have each other's backs in there."
"That don't mean we're going to go out there and start something, but we're going to stand up for ourselves and each other," Brown continued.
With 15.1 seconds left in the game, Lyles attempted a steal on Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo after the star slowly dribbled the ball across from him. After Lyles shoved Antetokounmpo, Lopez met Lyles face-to-face. The Kings forward grabbed the Bucks center's neck, while Lopez clutched the back of Lyles' head.
The two players were eventually separated and ejected from the matchup.
"It could have been avoided if he just dribbled it out," Lyles said, per The Sacramento Bee's Jason Anderson. "If you watch, I was just walking back with my head down. He crossed in front of me. ... He sold it a little bit. It was nothing personal."
"I'm not saying it's right by any means, but what happened is what happened," Lyles added.
"Giannis could just dribble the ball out," Kings guard De'Aaron Fox added, according to Marc J. Spears of ESPN. "That's all he had to do, and nothing would have happened."
Several Kings players stated postgame their objections to Antetokounmpo's dribbling, Spears reports.
"I thought what that guy did to Giannis was cheap," Lopez said, according to Mark Haynes of Sideline Sources. "He didn't need to do any of that stuff. He stepped up to Giannis a little bit as he walked off, and I didn't like that. I had my guy's back like I would have any of my teammates."
The Kings take on the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.