With less than two minutes remaining in a comfortable Miami win, the Grizzlies Scotty Pippen Jr. and the Heat’s Myron Gardner got into an altercation that is going to cost both of them some money, and maybe earn a suspension.
It started late in the fourth, when Pippen and Gardner were battling for rebound positioning under the basket, and Pippen just tossed Gardner out of the way (no foul was called, and in what had been a physical game that felt about right). With the Grizzlies having a five-on-four advantage in transition, the trailing Pippen knocked down a wide-open 3-pointer. A second after he released the ball, Gardner came up from behind and knocked Pippen to the ground. Pippen got up, jogged casually down the court, then went straight at Gardner in a fight that spilled into the first row.
After the game, Pippen called it a cheap shot from Gardner, via 5 Reasons Sports.
“I thought it was kind of a cheap shot. He kind of hit me when I didn’t see him. I thought it was a soft move. I just thought he needed a hug on the other end.”
You can be sure fines and maybe a suspension are coming from the league office for this altercation.
This wasn’t as big or as nasty as the Charlotte and Detroit fight that led to four suspensions — and no Heat or Grizzlies players appeared to leave the bench to jump into the fray — but the league is going to have a say because it does not want this to become a trend.
Miami won the game 136-120 behind 25 points from Norman Powell.
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