It took an NBA legend and two entire benches to pry Lu Dort and Jeremiah Fears apart, as a routine game conclusion devolved into a post-game skirmish that overshadowed the final score.

The New Orleans Pelicans had the last possession in their 95-104 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. With 0.2 seconds remaining, Fears grabbed an offensive rebound, but Dort locked him up. The Canadian guard thwarted the attempt to score as the clock ran out. That’s when things got interesting.

Dort pushed Fears, grabbed him, and pushed him again. The Pelicans star did not sit quietly. He turned to face Dort and grabbed him in response.

Words were exchanged between both sides. In fact, the Pelicans’ head of basketball operations and NBA legend Joe Dumars was also on the court to separate the two players. Fears had to be escorted into the tunnel by two team members.

But as the game was over, there were no technical fouls to be dished out. It’s unclear if the league will hand down any punishment upon review.

Dort finished with 12 points and eight rebounds in the win for the Thunder. All his points came from behind the three-point line, too. Fears added seven points and two rebounds off the bench for the Pelicans. However, theirs was not the only shoving contest in the game.

Jaylin Williams and Saddiq Bey had shoved each other when a little over a minute was left in the game. Before the play, the two of them were constantly in a back-and-forth with one another. It took fewer people to separate them, and they were both assessed technical fouls.

The Pelicans clearly didn’t like the physicality the Thunder had been playing with all night, and Fears, the rookie, showed he wasn’t afraid.

However, both these stars usually make no exceptions when it comes to leaving a mark on their opponents.

Rookie Jeremiah Fears and veteran Lu Dort have a history of not backing down

Lu Dort, 6-foot-4, is not afraid of the opposition’s size or stature. Known for being a gritty, physical defensive player, it was on display against the Toronto Raptors’ big man, Sandro Mamukelashvili, who had caught the ball in the paint and was preparing to rise up toward the rim. That’s when Dort leaped off the ground, ready to block the shot. But the Raptors player didn’t release the ball, which led Dort to land on the center’s shoulders.

Fortunately, no one was hurt, but it could’ve led to a nasty fall. On the other hand, the Pelicans’ rookie Jeremiah Fears had a heated confrontation with Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic last month. The Slovenian star was making a drive to the basket, but Fears blocked him aggressively by sticking his arm in his face. Doncic did not appreciate the foul at all and immediately jawed at the young guard, and things escalated.

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With near head-butting, light shoving, and the two players going nose-to-nose, the referees swarmed to de-escalate before it turned into a full scuffle. Doncic and Fears each received a technical foul after a lengthy review by the officials.