As the teams squared up in the corridor over the disagreement, Giannis Antetokounmpo had angry words with Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton and other members of the opposing team’s staff and sprinted towards Indiana’s locker room for the hoop.
Giannis Antetokounmpo lost his cool over the game ball being taken away, and what resulted was an ugly brawl between him and the Pacers.
Can they bury the hatchet and move on from the inconvenience? Or is this going to reflect in the later matches between the teams?
What Happened With Giannis Antetokounmpo?
NBA Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo got into a fight with the Pacers and is upset. This happened on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, in Milwaukee. Following an NBA basketball game, Giannis Antetokounmpo got into a heated argument with an Indiana Pacers coach.
The Bucks intended to keep Antetokounmpo’s game in the game ball’s memory. According to Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, the team stole the ball to commemorate Oscar Tshiebwe’s opening basket. Which game ball belonged to whom was still unclear after the altercation.
What does Giannis Antetokounmpo have to say about the situation?
Antetokounmpo declared that he was not sure about the ownership of the ball he was holding. He was holding the game ball, and it seemed to him that it was a fresh ball.
He went on to say, “How many minutes did I play today? I’ve felt the game ball before. I don’t know if the ball I have is truly the game ball, but I’ll take it and present it to my mother for sure.”
According to Carlisle, the team was not concerned with Antetokounmpo breaking a franchise record. Carlisle stated, “What happened after the game was unfortunate, There was a misunderstanding about the game ball. …
We were not thinking about Giannis’ franchise record, so we grabbed the ball. A couple of minutes later, several of their players ended up in our hallway, and there was a big, I don’t know what to call it — a fracas, melee, whatever.
I don’t think any punches were landed, but my general manager got elbowed in the ribs by one of their players. He certainly had a bruised rib and who knows if it’s anything more than that. Unfortunate situation. We don’t need the official game ball.
There’s two game balls there. We could have taken the other one, but it didn’t need to escalate to that. Really unfortunate.”
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