GameBallGate just got more interesting.
New video footage is circulating of last night’s incident between Giannis Antentokounmpo and the Indiana Pacers over the game ball. According to this new camera angle, an Indiana Pacers assistant coach was caught walking away from the court with the game ball from Antentokounmpo’s career-high 64-point performance. The missing game ball sparked the post-game scuffle between the Bucks and Pacers.
“Coach Mike – Coach Mike, I’m not going to give a last name – Coach Mike takes the ball with a smirk, like, ‘Nah, this is my ball,’” the NBATV broadcaster commentated during the clip. “Giannis is like, ‘No, this is my house, my ball, my rules.’ And he deserves that. If he were in Indiana, I would get it. But being in Milwaukee, that’s just disrespectful. Then the smirk afterwards, that rubbed me the wrong way.”
According to the Pacers media guide, “Coach Mike” is most likely assistant coach Mike Weiner, who has been an assistant coach with Indiana since 2021. Weinar was also an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks, where he won an NBA championship in 2011.
While Antentokounmpo did eventually receive a ball for all his efforts, he doesn’t believe he actually received the game ball from his career outing.
“I have a ball, but I don’t know if it’s the game ball. It doesn’t feel like the game ball to me,” said Antetokounmpo. “It feels like a brand new ball. I can tell, I played, what, 35 minutes today? I know how the game ball felt.”
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said during last night’s postgame press conference that the team tried to save the game ball for rookie Oscar Tshiebwe’s first official basket. Carlisle also added that Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan got “elbowed in the ribs” by someone on the Milwaukee roster during the “fracas” outside the locker room.
Original source here
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