The Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers were already none too pleased with the other after their divisional matchup with one another, especially after meeting in the semifinals of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament just last week. However, things boiled over postgame inside Fiserv Forum amidst a situation involving a rookie, a former MVP, and a basketball.
In the 140-126 win for the Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored a career-high and franchise record of 64 points. As for the Pacers, Oscar Tshiebwe, a first-year center out of Kentucky, scored his first official points as a professional with one free throw.
Following the game, it seems as though someone with Indiana grabbed the ball to give it to Tshiebwe to commemorate. The Bucks were having none of that, though, as they and Antetokounmpo wanted the ball for themselves after his incredible performance.
They went after it and, as such, Pacers’ head coach Rick Carlisle was able to retell what took place in the back of the arena during his postgame press conference.
“What happened after the game was unfortunate,” Carlisle said. “There was a misunderstanding about the game ball. It was Oscar Tshiebwe’s first official NBA point. So we always get the game ball. We were not thinking about Giannis’ franchise record. So we grabbed the ball and, a couple minutes later, several of their players ended up in our hallway.”
“There was a big fracas, melee – whatever,” explained Carlisle. “I don’t think any punches were landed. But my general manager got elbowed in the ribs by one of their players. He certainly has a bruised rib. Who knows if it’s anything more than that. But an unfortunate situation.”
A hard foul on Antetokounmpo in the fourth quarter already made things pretty chippy. Then, after the Pacers took the ball, the Bucks’ superstar became visibly upset upon the realization of that postgame. He sprinted into the back while fighting off staff members before he eventually returned to the court to continue to berate Indiana for what he and Milwaukee took as disrespect.
In the aftermath, Antetokounmpo was still angry in his own press conference by saying he doesn’t know if the Pacers gave them the correct ball back.
This was a wild scene that Carlisle said they could have all easily avoided since there was more than one ball for them to hand out. Both Antetokounmpo and Tshiebwe could have each gotten their respective keepsakes and everyone would have been able to call it a night.
Instead, the association got an encounter that they won’t soon forget considering how it all started in the first place.
“We don’t need the official game ball – there’s two game balls there. We could have taken the other one,” said Carlisle. “It didn’t need to escalate to that. So, really, just unfortunate.”
“Third game we’ve played these guys within two and half, three weeks so things are heated with the competition. I understand all that,” Carlisle said. “But for it to come into the hallway? It didn’t need to happen that way.”
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