The Pacers beat the Warriors 108-97 for their fifth consecutive win, but all ESPN could talk about was the tiny little fracas at the end that saw Roy Hibbert ejected. And multiple technicals handed out. In the aftermath, Hibbert and the Warrior's David Lee were each suspended one game, while Lance Stephenson, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were all fined.
What happened was this: Hibbert ran down the floor and banged into Lee while trying to get position down low. Nothing really wrong with it in such a physical game, but Lee didn't like it. So on the rebound, he delivered a two-handed shove to Roy's chest/neck area. If Roy just waited a second or two, Lee would have been assessed a foul and that would have been it. Instead, he retaliated with a strong shove to Lee's chest. Refs run in, should have been broken up with double technicals. But then Steph Curry runs in and tries to tackle Hibbert for some reason, and Hibbert just flings him to the ground like a ragged doll. Curry tries again, and same thing, and by this time all is out of control as they spill into the stands.
Amazingly, none of the benches cleared. Coach Frank Vogel and his staff deserve a lot of credit for keeping everyone on the bench. The funniest thing is that David West got in there and cleared everyone out. He delivered a few shoves but no one dared to do anything back. He essentially broke up the whole fracas singlehandedly.
Some thought West might have also gotten a suspension because he looked pretty wild in there. But of course, no one wants to suspend a guy who sent a mascot to hospital with one playful punch through the mascot's helmet head.
So there you have it. The moral of the story is: never mess with David West. Oh, and he led the Pacers with 28 points on 12-16 shooting, by the way.
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