Jazz’s John Collins On Shoving Match With Bulls Assistant Coach Chris Fleming: ‘He Needs Some More Self-Control’

With 9.3 seconds left in the Chicago Bulls–Utah Jazz game, Jazz forward John Collins got into a shoving match with Bulls assistant coach Chris Fleming. The fracas began after Jazz guard Collin Sexton fouled Bulls star DeMar DeRozan. Following the foul, Sexton and injured Bulls forward Torrey Craig began exchanging words in front of Chicago’s bench, causing tempers to flare between the two NBA teams. 

Things escalated when Collins and Fleming got into a brief shoving match. Video replays showed Fleming initiating contact with Collins.

A technical foul was called on Craig, while Collins and Fleming were whistled for a double-technical.

“I ran over. I’m standing there. And the coach comes over and just shoves me for no reason,” Collins told NBA reporters, via The Athletic. “Y’all can go watch the film. And I just protected myself. I’m literally just standing there, and the dude puts a forearm in my chest and is pushing me back. So I don’t know. He needs some more self-control. But it’s whatever. I don’t know what to say about that. That was weird.”

The Bulls beat the Jazz by a final score of 119-117. 

“What it appeared to me is I saw DeMar get fouled,” Bulls head coach Billy Donovan said. “I don’t know if he was grabbing his face or holding his face. I think Torrey said something. They obviously came over. Chris Fleming, I think, was trying to hold everybody off to kind of separate. And then from there, it just kind of escalated and I was trying to get everybody else out. At that point, I just stepped in to kind of break it up a little bit.”

Added Collins: “We’re not going to lay down for anybody. “We’re going to compete our asses off any time we can. And we want to win. There’s not any losers in this locker room.”

The Bulls improved to 30-32, while the Jazz dropped to 28-35.