Milwaukee guard Matthew Dellavedova was ejected from the Bucks-Wizards game on Saturday in Washington for a horse-collar hold on a driving Bradley Beal.
Midway through the fourth quarter of a tight game, Beal was attempting to drive to the basket and got past Dellavedova. But the chippy Bucks guard caught Beal from behind and wrapped an arm around his neck, driving him to the floor.
"He plays super aggressive. Sometime overly aggressive," Beal said after the Bucks' 110-103 win. "That's just his knack, ever since he came into the league. ... That play was kinda crazy. I understand you want to stop the ball, but there's a right way and a wrong way."
Dellavedova was called for a flagrant foul 2 and was ejected.
Afterward, the Bucks guard said Beal slipped.
"[John] Wall threw the ball up to Beal, and I tried to run him off the three," Dellavedova said. "He decides to drive it, so I tried to hold him up, and he slipped because he went down. I was just trying to hold him up to prevent him from getting the and-1, and then he just went to the ground."
Dellavedova said he wasn't expecting the ejection.
"I thought it was a foul maybe or a flagrant one. But I definitely wasn't expecting that," he said.
Wall wasn't buying it.
"[Dellavedova is] known for undercutting guys trying to box him out and stuff like that," he said. "I give no credit for that. I give credit to him for being a hard player that's hard-nose, one of the old-school-type players that plays very physically, I give him credit for that. But when it comes to doing dirty plays, I have no respect for him."
Asked how he was doing after the fall, Beal said, "I'm good. I played football."
