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"I've never seen all that type of (expletive) happen" – Damian Lillard speaks on the odd game ball incident
Milwaukee Bucks superstar Damian Lillard has been in the league for over a decade, so he’s seen his fair share of incidents in the NBA. However, what he witnessed on Wednesday at the Fiserv Forum was definitely a first for the veteran guard.
“I've never seen all that type of (expletive) happen,” Lillard said, referring to his teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo’s passionate pursuit of the game ball after scoring a career-high 64 points.
Was unsure of what was happening
Lillard and teammate Khris Middleton were shooting the breeze with Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton after winning a heated game, 140-126. All of a sudden, Giannis beelined toward the Pacers' locker room, and he was soon followed by several Bucks players, including Thanasis, Jae Crowder, and Cam Payne.
“That's a first. I've never seen all that type of (expletive) happen. Yeah, I wasn't really sure what was going on. I know that it was a physical game. There was a lot of back-and-forth, a lot of stuff was happening out there. It was a lot of talk in the last game and this game. And it was just, to me, just banter. It was a hard foul on Giannis that kind of turned it up a little bit. (Bobby Portis) was turned up tonight,” Lillard said, referring to the nature of their match-up against the Pacers.
“And, after the game, I thought the game was over. I was staying close to halfcourt so I could kind of have a pulse on what they was saying because I knew the bench was mad. I was kind of like in the middle because I wanted to just be aware of where people was at 'cause I knew it was heated,” Dame continued.
Gamesmanship
A lot of pettiness occurs in the NBA. Minute details get blown up and become larger than what it actually was. This is especially true when you consider the intense competition between teams vying for supremacy in the Eastern Conference.
Lillard said the Pacers taking the game ball to give to their rookie Oscar Tshiebwe - who scored his first NBA points - after Giannis’ awesome performance was a sign of gamesmanship. He said it was the Pacers’ way of trying to take away from Antetokounmpo’s big moment.
“They took the game ball. And that type of stuff happens in the NBA when people get offended by how it happened. Maybe they felt like he should've been out of the game, and he was trying to get points or whatever, so they did something like that,” Lillard continued.
“That's part of the league. That's the gamesmanship, that's the pettiness. it happens. I didn't think it was that deep, but it just turned into a lot of commotion and a lot of stuff.”
