Houston Rockets center Christian Wood Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

One NBA player is coming to Christian Wood’s defense after Wood came under fire this week from the woman he hit with an errant pass.

The Houston Rockets big man was trying to throw an outlet pass to a teammate in Monday’s loss to the Charlotte Hornets when the pass sailed on him and struck a woman named Isabella Fitz in the stands ( video here).

Fitz was interviewed later in the week and detailed the injuries she suffered when she was hit. She also expressed unhappiness about Wood’s reaction to the play. Wood posted on social media about his awful pass with a laughing-face emoji and wrote “happens to the best of us.” He also offered Fitz courtside seats to a Rockets game of her choice.

On Friday, Portland Trail Blazers forward Robert Covington, who used to play for the Rockets, called out Fitz over the interview.

“Girl sit down,” wrote Covington in an Instagram comment. “You lucky he offered you tickets. That emoji had nothing to do with you.”

The bad pass from Wood was an obvious accident, and he appeared to be poking fun at himself for his gaffe with the laughing-face emoji rather than poking fun at Fitz. Though Fitz was injured in the incident, which is unfortunate, it is hard to blame Wood for how he handled things.

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