This week NBA had more brawls than it usually does in a year. And as the brawls increase, competition increases so does the entertainment.
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NBA has barely seen brawls since the start of last decade maybe because of stricter rules or the fact that players are much friendlier with the opponents than they ever used to be. It looks like that is going to change this season.
On Thursday, the match between the Utah Jazz and the Indiana Pacers suddenly turned into a wrestling event after Pacers center Myles Turner made a sensational block on his counterpart Rudy Gobert.
While going down Rudy pulled Myles’ with him and they both ended up on the ground and when they both got up, they started a brawl. In a matter of seconds, players from both teams started getting involved and referees intervened to break it up.
At the end of the biggest brawl (by ejections) of this NBA season, 4 players found themselves out of the game. Three from the Jazz and one from the Pacers.
But was this brawl even a fight?
Rudy Gobert doesn’t feel so. The Frenchman after the game said he did not feel threatened by Turner at any point, while Turner blamed Gobert for forcing him down by pulling his shorts after the block, which was Turner’s second block on the 3-time Defensive player of the year.
Turner said, “I thought it was a dirty play, when [Gobert] pulled my shorts, I wasn’t about to have that, so I had to stand up for myself in that situation.”
It barely looked like a fight with both the players tackling each other. Gobert felt the same. He said, “If I don’t feel threatened, I’m not going to throw a punch. And I didn’t feel threatened. I am not going to do it on the basketball court, if someone wants to fight, I’m easy to reach.”
Charlotte Hornets guard Terry Rozier “Scary Terry” felt the same, that it is not fighting, its wrestling.
It wasn’t a WWE show in Denver on Monday. The fight could have turned to an even bigger brawl had Markieff Morris been looking that an anger-possessed seven-footer is about to knock off his head. But he had his back turned. Since that incident, there has been a Twitter war between the Morris Brothers and Jokic Brothers threatening each other.
There will be extra excited to watch NBA games this season with players irrespective of fines and suspensions not holding back to standing up to the bullying on the court. Let’s see whether we will have this fake wrestling or some real swinging like the famous Malice at the Palace.
