The Bucks and Pacers Fighting Over a Gameball is Legitimately Hilarious
By Kyle Koster
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored a franchise-record 64 points last night as the Milwaukee Bucks pounded the Indianapolis Pacers at the Fiserv Forum. It was the peak of physical performance. And almost immediately after the final whistle it stopped being the main story because of some ridiculously petty and lame bullshit as both teams squared off in a hallway to argue about who should and who should not have gotten the gameball.
Giannis and Haliburton had heated exchange following Bucks-Pacers 😳
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 14, 2023
It involved Pacers taking game ball away after Giannis' 64-point game pic.twitter.com/zsSGraLQVi
Giannis tried to go into the Pacers locker room after they took the game ball from his 64 piece pic.twitter.com/Z9LnPQihzJ
— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) December 14, 2023
LEAKED Audio Of Pacers Refusing To Give Giannis Antetokounmpo The “Game Ball”👀:
— LegendZ (@legendz_nba) December 14, 2023
“You want the ball? You’re not getting that ball”
Then, Giannis gets heated at Tyrese Haliburton and yells at him: “Go get the f*cking ball! You need to go get it” pic.twitter.com/e9XAQzNZVl
This all happened because the Pacers wanted to secure the ball for rookie Oscar Tshiebwe, who scored the first points of his NBA career on a free-throw. Giannis said that he didn't even want the ball for himself but for Damian Lillard — who broke a record that will echo through all of eternity: passing Kyle Korver for fifth all-time on the three-pointers list.
At one point during all of this, Rick Carlisle pointed out that they use two balls so both teams could have had one. For that, he is a hero. It is okay to laugh. Because this is profoundly unserious. Everyone involved should be embarrassed by their participation in the type of squabble one might expect from 7th-grade "B" teams. Technically, what Draymond Green does out there is worse for the league than bickering over something this stupid ... but not by much.
The best part about all of this is that the incident is going to dominate sports television and people who drive nice cars for arguing about things are going to look into a camera with a straight face and shout about this, taking different sides while getting animated. When what they should really be doing is just shaking their heads in silent disbelief for 90 seconds at the state of play.
It's been a tough morning around here as I had to explain to my children that some people don't respect the sanctity of moving into the top-five of long-distance shooting while others don't properly appreciate a rookie making his first free throw since the free throw he made in the IST title game that doesn't technically count. A lot for them to process before school.
*Solemnly shakes head* This league.
The next time something like this happens the NBA should step in and propose cutting the ball down the middle and giving each team half. Whomever objects will be the true owner. It's a timeless system prove through the years.