The Winners of Every NBA Fight So Far This Year
As the NBA Season enters it 7th week we have already seen more than our fair share of surprising story lines, disappointing injuries and … fights? Whether there is an abundance of bad blood or just something in the water is yet to be determined but what we do know is that we are averaging almost two scuffles a week. Here is everything you need to know about everyone of them:
Date: October 17th
Participants: Nicola Mirotic and Bobby Portis
Winner: Bobby Portis
Fallout: 8 game suspension for Portis and 2 broken facial bones for Mirotic
The rare intersquad preseason fight started off the Chicago Bulls season on a high note. Like a fine wine this story is aging well as more and more details emerge such as the fact that the teammates are not talking to each other anymore. A fight between teammates is bad, a fight where one teammate injuries another is worse but a fight where two teammates are no longer talking to each other and one is requesting a trade is the worst.
Date: October 23rd
Participants: Serge Ibaka and LaMarcus Aldridge
Winner: Consistency
Fallout: A pair of technical fouls and $4,000 in fines
In the midst of throwing elbows under the rim for a rebound these two big men got tangled up and late game tempers got the best of them as the two decided to square up. LaMarcus was only able to get one good shove in before both teams successfully pulled off the “Hold Me Back” maneuver to perfection and separated the foes. The best part of this fight is that it’s happened before, nearly three years ago when Ibaka was on the Thunder and not the Raptors. Seriously, same exact scenario, fight and everything. Time is a flat circle.
Date: October 23rd
Participants: James Harden and Mario Chalmers
Winner: Harden
Fallout: A pair of technical fouls and $4,000 in fines
With under three minutes to go in a tied game Harden knocked Chalmers over when the two collided coming off a screen. While on the ground Chalmers appeared to try to trip Harden who did not appreciate the gesture and retaliated by shoving Chalmers. Bad look for Harden to literally push a player while he’s down.
Date: October 29th
Participants: Draymond Green, Bradley Beal and Kelly Oubre
Winner: (Surprisingly) Beal
Fallout: 1 ripped Nike Jersey, 2 Ejections (Beal and Green) and $90,000 in fines
Towards the end of the first half Beal struck Green in the face while going for a rebound. Whether it was intentional or not remains to be seen but Green’s response led the two All-Stars into a wrestling match. Oubre (obviously fearing for the undersized Beal’s life) rushed into the fray and was the unsung hero when he threw a punch that actually hit his teammate John Wall in the head. Beal wins this fight purely because of the great visual in the fight where he has Green in a headlock.
Date: November 10th
Participants: Dwight Howard and Marcus Smart
Winner: The Boston Crowd
Fallout: $2,000 fine for Howard
In one of the more tame altercations of the year, Dwight just simply knocks over Smart in an attempt to get a rebound, then hooks and elbows him back to the ground for the second rebound. Really no one could blame Smart for getting in his face afterwards which is probably why he didn’t receive a technical or a fine from the league. The Boston crowd was the real winner of this fight as they launched into “Howard sucks” chants following the incident.
Date: November 15th
Participants: LeBron James, Frank Ntilikina and Enes Kantar
Winner: Enes Kantar
Fallout: A pair of technical fouls and $4,000 in fines
LeBron James had the unmitigated gall to call out the Knicks front office for not drafting rookie dunking sensation Dennis Smith Jr which inadvertently called out New York’s rookie Frank Ntilikina. This lead to Frank getting in LeBron’s face when given the opportunity. Unfortunately for Frank he physically couldn’t move LeBron but thankfully Kantar came to the rescue and could. If everyone woke up and tried to be as good of a teammate as Enes Kantar is the world would be an amazing place.
Date: November 17th
Participants: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Tyler Ulis
Winner: Everyone other than Lonzo Ball
Fallout: 3 Technical fouls and $6,000 in fines
With only a few minutes to go in a battle between two young (and very bad) Western Conference foes, words turned into shoves that turned into the majority of both teams in each others face. The Suns third game against the Lakers in a month meant tensions were already high among two teams very familiar with each other. What people weren’t used to seeing however was the Lakers prominent rookie Lonzo Ball walking away from the fray while all of his teammates rushed in. When asked about the bad look after the game Ball sheepishly defended his actions by saying, “It’s the NBA, I don’t want no tech.” Poor grammar aside, Lonzo did not receive a technical or fine but proved that you actually can lose a fight that you don’t participate in.
Date: November 23rd
Participants: Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook
Winner: Kevin Durant
Fallout: A pair of technical fouls and $4,000 in fines
Kevin Durant returning to play his former team is going to be must watch TV for the foreseeable future and this outing was just another reason why. With his team up big in the third, reigning MVP Westbrook stripped Durant of the ball causing the two to literally butt heads and say a few choice words to each other before being separated by teammates. While the Thunder would go on to win this game, Durant easily won the dispute with his incredible finishing move of clapping right in his opponents face. A timeless move that practically guarantees victory every time.
Well done KD. Well done.
