Pacers and Warriors Get in Shoving Match; Roy Hibbert Ejected

UPDATE: In a foreshadowing of the suspension(s) that are likely coming for the Pacers, the weenies at the NBA have spent their day issuing take down orders for anyone who uploaded this crime-against-humanity-level brawl to YouTube. Deadspin still has it, if you’re looking,

UPDATE IV: The damage: Hibbert and Lee were suspended for one game; Lance Stephenson, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were fined $35,000. READ MORE.

I don’t have a lot to add. It was quite a bit of shoving, and Roy Hibbert certainly is agressive in pushing Steph Curry out of his personal space. And David West gets right in the center of everything, shoving a few Warriors, Andris Biedrins and Klay Thompson, I believe, enough that they seem to trip and fall into the first row while also turning to shove an assistant coach.

Steph Curry is probably the worst offender for the Warriors, and he, Thompson, David Lee, West and Hibbert (x2) all received technical fouls.

Really, I don’t think anything done here is egregious enough to warrant a definite suspension.

Then again, they do drift very close to the fans and the Pacers have a history. Not that that should matter, but in today’s cotton candy league, I wouldn’t be shocked if Hibbert or, especially, West gets a suspension or at least a larger fine of some sort.

Fortunately for both teams, it doesn’t appear as though anyone left the bench, so there should be no automatic suspensions levied by the league.

UPDATE II: Roy Hibbert didn’t even know what was going on.

From Jim Johnson of the Associated Press (via TBJ)

"“Seriously, I didn’t even feel him,” Hibbert said of Curry. “I saw some light-skinned guy. I don’t know if it was Klay Thompson or Steph Curry, I just knew there was a light-skinned guy by me.”"

Oh, Roy.

UPDATE III: Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star reports Hibbert expecting to get a one-game suspension.

"“I’m sure I’ll hear from the league in the morning,’’ Hibbert said. “I’m guessing I’ll miss a game. But I know my teammates have my back. They had my back (Tuesday night). I’ve been on teams in my five years here, something like that happened, they left you alone on an island. This team, the guys look after one another. Everybody ran over and protected me.’’"

David West also added the following about his role in the altercation.

"“I was just trying to make sure we were defending ourselves, not backing down but ultimately trying to get our guys out of there,’’ West said. “When they attacked Roy with two or three guys coming at him, we preach togetherness on this team and we’re not going to let teams gang up on Roy or anybody else. We did what we needed to do.’’"

Paul George seems to agree with West.

And just to post all the reactions, here are Frank Vogel’s and Kravitz’s thoughts, from the Indy Star piece, on how this little tizzy compared the the Malice at the Palace.

"I asked coach Frank Vogel if he had any Brawl flashbacks, even though he was not with the Pacers at the time it happened.“No, because our guys know better,’’ he said. “I don’t think there’s even a comparison to those Pacers teams of the past. It’s not even close. Our guys play a physical, clean brand of basketball. We don’t back down. There’s was pushing and shoving, but that’s a heck of a lot different than what happened in the past.’’It wasn’t a brawl. And it wasn’t even close to The Brawl."

Golf clap for that closing sentence. It’s comical that anyone would even link the two.

This is much closer to (though even tamer than) the ‘Melo runaway than the Brawl.