During Thursday’s second round matchup between the Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics, much of the talk was about the altercation between Kelly Oubre Jr. and Kelly Olynyk. After a hard screen set by Olynyk, Oubre hit the ground, quickly popped up, rushed towards Olynyk and shoved him to the ground.
This altercation got Oubre ejected from the game and suspended for game four. However, the talk wasn’t so much about Oubre, but it was around the narrative of Olynyk being a dirty player. If you recall, Olynyk is no stranger to these claims after his infamous box out on Cavaliers’ Kevin Love in the 2015 NBA playoffs. Whatever the claim or narrative is, Olynyk, however, does not see himself as a dirty player.
Following from Chris Forsberg of ESPN.
“I mean, I don’t think I’m a dirty player. My teammates don’t think I’m a dirty player,” Olynyk said with a shrug. “It’s basketball, it happens. You have to screen, you have to box out, you have to do things. It’s not something you focus on, you just go out there and play the next game.”
One person who’s backing Olynyk and going against the dirty player narrative is his coach Brad Stevens.
“I think there’s a certain physicality that you have to play with that all good teams play with and, at the same time, there’s a line that can’t be crossed,” coach Brad Stevens said. “And that’s not one guy, that’s every guy on both teams. But, no, I’m not worried about that from [Olynyk’s] standpoint.”
