The Indiana Pacers-Milwaukee Bucks had more drama after the game than during the matchup. Both teams battled hard, but the Bucks took the game away in the end, rallying behind Giannis Antetokounmpo’s career night. Looking to immortalize his night, the Greek Freak wanted the game ball, but the Pacers took it instead, leading to a scuffle and an infuriated Giannis.

Pacers Head Coach Rick Carlisle went on to explain the reason why the team chose to take the ball away with them.

Pacers head coach clears the air

The Milwaukee Bucks took care of business, defeating the Indiana Pacers with a 140-126 final score. The Bucks were led by Giannis Antetokounmpo and his 64-point performance, easily bulldozing over Indiana. After the game, the Pacers took the game ball, leading an angry Antetokounmpo to rush to the Pacers’ locker room. But after the entire altercation, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle explains why the team did what they did.

In a post-game interview, Carlisle said, “What happened after the game was unfortunate. There was a misunderstanding about the game ball. It was Oscar Tshiebwe’s first official NBA point, so we always get the game ball. We were not thinking about Giannis’ franchise [64-point] record.”

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Carlisle went on to add, “A couple of minutes later, several of their players ended up in our hallway. And there was a big fracas, melee, or whatever. I don’t think any punches were landed but my general manager got elbowed in the ribs by one of their players.”

“So, he certainly has a bruised rib and, who knows, anything more than that. But an unfortunate situation. We don’t need the official game ball, there’s two game balls there. We could’ve taken the other one, but it didn’t need to escalate to that.”

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Was Giannis Antetokounmpo in the wrong?

The reason given by Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle does make sense. Pacers forward, Oscar Tshiebwe played his first NBA minutes and scored his first NBA point with the ball today. So, now this may paint Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks in a bad light, which is not something the superstar would have wanted on a franchise record-breaking night. Moreover, there are chances that the league may intervene and issue an investigation into the whole altercation.

While further reports claim that the Pacers returned the official game ball to the Bucks so that their franchise player could have it, they had already done the damage, and they had already sown the seeds of a potential rivalry.

Suspensions and heavy fines may be underway after this game. So, it will be interesting to see how the league moves forward with this and who gets blamed in the end.

Who do you think is in the right here? Let us know in the comments.

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