Credit: Unsplash

There were no hard feelings after an accidental smack in the no-zone.

Here’s a little lesson about guys and sports: when we get fouled, it’s not usually that big of a deal, though it could potentially become a big deal depending on the location of the foul. If, for example, we take a solid hit below the belt, well, there’s probably going to be at least a little bit of salt after that.

That’s what happened during Sunday’s game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Dallas Mavericks. In the third quarter, Collin Sexton of the Cavaliers was trying to stake his claim on rebound footing against the Mavericks’ Luka Doncic. Sexton attempted to shoulder-check Doncic out of the way, but out of reflex, Doncic swung back with his hand, making contact with Sexton’s… off switch, let’s call it. This resulted in a brief staredown before Doncic firmly shoved Sexton out of the way to get the rebound position, but it was at this point that the ref blew the whistle. Doncic was slapped with a flagrant foul 2 for his conduct, receiving an automatic ejection from the game.

Despite taking a swing to his naught bits, though, Sexton didn’t hold a grudge against Doncic for his conduct. “Just a basketball play at the end of the day,” he said after the game. “We’re both competitors. It was just one of those things. Just a boxout play. Usually when someone is hand-checking you, punch down or swing down, but it was just at the groin. It’s all good.”

Luka gets ejected for hitting Collin Sexton 😳 pic.twitter.com/op2KXrPAdT

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 10, 2021

“After I saw the video, I knew I hit him, but it wasn’t nothing on purpose,” Doncic said about the incident. “I think that kind of stuff happens a lot in games, but I don’t know. That’s my explanation. It obviously wasn’t on purpose. It was just two guys fighting for a rebound, I guess.”

Amusingly, Doncic hadn’t actually realized he had committed a flagrant foul 2 until after the review of the footage; he thought the ref blew the whistle for a shot clock violation. “That’s what I thought they were looking at,” Doncic said. “I was really surprised when they called a flagrant 2.”