GameBallGate simply received extra attention-grabbing.
New video footage is circulating of final evening’s incident between Giannis Antentokounmpo and the Indiana Pacers over the sport ball. In line with this new digicam angle, an Indiana Pacers assistant coach was caught strolling away from the court docket with the sport ball from Antentokounmpo’s career-high 64-point efficiency. The lacking recreation ball sparked the post-game scuffle between the Bucks and Pacers.
“Coach Mike – Coach Mike, I’m not going to present a final title – Coach Mike takes the ball with a smirk, like, ‘Nah, that is my ball,’” the NBATV broadcaster commentated in the course of the clip. “Giannis is like, ‘No, that is my home, my ball, my guidelines.’ And he deserves that. If he have been in Indiana, I’d get it. However being in Milwaukee, that’s simply disrespectful. Then the smirk afterwards, that rubbed me the improper means.”
According to the Pacers media information, “Coach Mike” is almost definitely assistant coach Mike Weiner, who has been an assistant coach with Indiana since 2021. Weinar was additionally an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks, the place he gained an NBA championship in 2011.
Whereas Antentokounmpo did finally obtain a ball for all his efforts, he doesn’t consider he really acquired the sport ball from his profession outing.
“I’ve a ball, however I don’t know if it’s the sport ball. It doesn’t really feel like the sport ball to me,” said Antetokounmpo. “It seems like a model new ball. I can inform, I performed, what, 35 minutes right now? I understand how the sport ball felt.”
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle stated throughout final evening’s postgame press convention that the crew tried to avoid wasting the sport ball for rookie Oscar Tshiebwe’s first official basket. Carlisle additionally added that Pacers common supervisor Chad Buchanan received “elbowed within the ribs” by somebody on the Milwaukee roster in the course of the “fracas” outdoors the locker room.