Inside The Huskies

Ex-Husky Chriss Ends Up In the Middle of NBA Playoff Mayhem

The former UW big man and Bismack Biyombo spice up the postseason with their hot-tempered ways.

Dan Raley

Ex-Husky Chriss Ends Up In the Middle of NBA Playoff Mayhem
Ex-Husky Chriss Ends Up In the Middle of NBA Playoff Mayhem /
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Six years after leaving the University of Washington, Marquese Chriss is a worldly 24 years old, an NBA veteran, a guy not afraid to mix it up.

On Tuesday night in Phoenix, Chriss of the Dallas Mavericks and the Suns' Bismack Biyombo heatedly squared off in the closing seconds of their playoff game, won by the home team 110-80.

They pushed and shoved. Said a few unpleasantries. Drew technical fouls and ejections. 

What made this confrontation different was it continued up the tunnel leading to the home team locker room. 

Fortunately, cooler heads intervened and kept Chriss and Biyombo from really doing something dumb.

Chriss didn't take a wrong turn. He knew his way around Footprint Center, having played a couple of seasons for the Suns. He just decided to prolong the squabble. 

Security personnel were able to separate the players once more and escort Chriss to the visitors' locker area. 

The 6-foot-9 Chriss, who played a lone season at the UW alongside point guard Dejounte Murray before both entered the draft, was the eighth overall pick in 2016 by the Sacramento Kings.

However, the big man since has become a journeyman now playing for his fifth NBA team. Joining the Mavs after the season began, he signed a 10-day contract that eventually turned into a two-year deal with Mark Cuban's franchise. 

Chriss is just one of two former Huskies still alive in these NBA playoffs, along with the Philadelphia 76ers' Matisse Thybulle.

What set Chriss off this time was Biyombo dunking with 2.3 seconds left to play with his team up by 30.

Chriss fouled him extra hard and the guy named Bismack, which sounds like a city in North Dakota, immediately got in. his face.

This wasn't the first time Chriss has been in a high-profile NBA scrap. While playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2019, and he and Toronto's Serge Ibaka went at it in a real physical encounter.

Chriss knocked Ibaka to the floor after the other guy continually pulled on his jersey. Ibaka jumped up and choked him under the basket. Punches were thrown. Both were suspended for one game for the grisly incident.

It's real dangerous work if you can get it.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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