A fourth quarter scuffle between the Jazz and Pacers on Tuesday featured Rudy Gobert, Myles Turner, two other players that joined after the initial shoving, zero apparent punches thrown and four ejections. The whole series of events left NBA Twitter shaking their heads.
The fight, or lack thereof, started when Turner blocked Gobert’s layup attempt and the pair stumbled toward the baseline, with Gobert holding onto Turner’s shorts and dragging him onto the floor. Turner stared at the referee, motioned toward Gobert and asked for a foul call. Turner then made contact with Utah’s eighth-year veteran center as they took a few strides up the court.
That’s when the shoving started, first between Turner and Gobert but then adding Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles and others who had run back from the other side of the court. Coaches and referees sprinted over — holding back the original pair, who tried to wrestle each other to the ground. Gobert, Turner, Mitchell and Ingles were all ejected from the game.
“I had to stand up for myself in that situation,” Turner said after the game, via ESPN. “I don’t think I did anything wrong. But that’s not for me to decide. We’ll talk to the league and see what happens from there.”
Sports Illustrated’s Chris Herring tweeted that the scuffle was “so weak all the way around,” and former player Quentin Richardson — on an alternate broadcast with Jamal Crawford — laughed as the sequence unfolded before saying “No, that’s not OK” to Crawford.
“Those two big boys had a lot of space and opportunity to touch each other,” Richardson said before breaking out in laughter and finishing with “Give me a hug, give me a hug.”
Mitchell said postgame that the scuffle could’ve been avoided if the referees didn’t allow too much contact earlier in the game, building up as the matchup went along. Gobert added that the referees “allow guys to do way too much s–t.” But, Gobert added, he wasn’t going to throw a punch and get suspended in a situation, like this one, where he didn’t feel threatened by the others involved.
“But if someone wants to fight I’m easy to reach,” Gobert said. “I’m very easy to reach. I’m just not going to do it on social media, like if anyone got a problem, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, easy.”
The Pacers upset the Jazz, 111-100, and handed Utah its first loss at home this season. Indiana improved its record to 4-8 heading into their game on Saturday against the 76ers. Malcolm Brogdon scored a season-best 30 points, while reserve guard T.J. McConnell added 21 points off the bench. For the Jazz, now 4-1 at home, will play host to the Miami Heat on Saturday