Grayson Allen earns the Chicago Bulls’ ire again after another collision — this time with DeMar DeRozan

Milwaukee Bucks guard Grayson Allen deepened his position as an antagonist in Chicago during Wednesday’s 119-113 overtime loss to the Bulls at the United Center.

After a shoving foul by Patrick Williams midway through the third quarter, Allen flailed into Bulls star DeMar DeRozan, knocking the forward to the ground with his arm. DeRozan jumped to his feet immediately, lunging at Allen while the Bucks’ Wesley Matthews and Giannis Antetokounmpo stepped into his path.

Three Bulls teammates redirected DeRozan as he continued to shout down Allen and Bucks forward Bobby Portis.

“It felt like I went across the middle in a football game, tried to catch a slot route and got hit,” DeRozan said after the game.

Although the play was reviewed for a foul, officials determined any contact between the players to be incidental and did not penalize Allen. DeRozan said Allen didn’t attempt to apologize, although Allen told reporters he tried to but couldn’t get DeRozan’s attention.

It took several minutes for DeRozan to fully cool off. A minute later, a verbal conflict between DeRozan and Portis earned double technical fouls as the players jawed at one another. DeRozan brushed off the conflict.

“It’s all part of the game,” he said. “You love it. You’ve got to love moments like that. That’s the aggressive sport that we play in. I grew up playing and talking trash sunup to sundown.”

DeRozan had 20 points before the scuffle with Allen. After the double technicals with Portis, he locked in even more.

DeRozan finished with 42 points, 10 rebounds and five assists and made a steal near the end of regulation to set up guard Ayo Dosunmu for a game-tying dunk. He scored 10 of the Bulls’ 13 overtime points.

Despite his enhanced performance down the stretch, DeRozan said the altercation with Allen didn’t affect his approach to the end of the game.

“No man could extra motivate me when I already am (motivated),” DeRozan said. “He didn’t do nothing for me.”

His teammates, however, saw a sharpened focus after the double technicals.

“DeMar responded the right way,” Zach LaVine said. “The next 20 minutes, you saw what happened. He had one thing on his mind. That’s the kind of player he is. You don’t want to fire up somebody like that.”

Allen hasn’t stepped onto the court at the United Center without being greeted by boos since January, when a midair collision in Milwaukee sent Alex Caruso crashing to the court, fracturing his wrist. Bulls players accused Allen of being purposefully dirty on the play, which sidelined Caruso for more than six weeks.

Already carrying a reputation for dirty play during his college career at Duke, Allen has been treated as a heel since he joined the NBA in 2018. LaVine and DeRozan both cited Allen’s past as the main contributor to the reaction to the collision.

“It’s his track record,” DeRozan said. “If it was (Houston Rockets center) Boban (Marjanović), I wouldn’t have did nothing. I didn’t know if it was on purpose or what happened.”