Wednesday’s game between the Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat featured an incident where teammates Udonis Haslem and Jimmy Butler had to be separated.
The two teams were tied at 50 at halftime. But the previously slumping Warriors went on a 19-0 run to start the third quarter, effectively ending the game. In the midst of that run, Haslem and Butler had an incident on the bench that got testy.
A fan recording the incident posted it on Twitter.
Bonta Hill, who hosts the pre and post-game shows for the Warriors on NBC Sports Bay Area, included further detail on the incident.
Later video backed up that account.
https://twitter.com/TedBuddy8/status/1506806343402893315
On one hand, it’s a terrible look. This isn’t stuff you’d expect to see from an NBA team, especially the Eastern Conference’s current No. 1 seed with the playoffs right around the corner. Still, despite the bad optics this created, it didn’t seem to hurt Miami.
The Heat did lose the game, falling 118-104. But their play significantly improved in the immediate aftermath of the huddle. Miami went on a similar run to the one that it allowed to get back into the game.
Things like this can sometimes be a spark that galvanizes a team. In the immediate aftermath, that seemed to happen for the Heat. They can also take a little time to fester and ultimately be negatives. Time will tell if that happens.
But while Butler is a tough customer, we’d advise him to let this one go. Haslem may be nearly 42 but he does not seem like the kind of guy one would want to go after.
[Photo Credit: NBC Sports Bay Area]
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