The Milwaukee Bucks saw their season end at the hands of the Indiana Pacers in their Game 6 matchup on Thursday night. And to make matters even worse, Bucks guard Patrick Beverley got himself involved in a heated altercation with a number of Pacers fans seated directly behind the Bucks bench.
It was an uphill battle the entire series without star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo. And the Pacers were able to show that without Antetokounmpo to worry about, they were simply the better team.
For the Pacers, it was a balanced offensive attack as it has been for much of the series. They had six players score in double digits in Game 6, which was ultimately enough for them to take the game 120-98 to win the series.
The game was well in hand for the Pacers throughout much of the fourth quarter. And with only a few minutes left in the game, Beverley lost his cool on the fans seated behind his team’s bench.
Beverley was seen tossing a ball into the stands, which ended up hitting an unsuspecting Pacers fan, hitting them in the face. Another fan then retrieved the ball, and Beverley promptly asked for it back.
When the fans passed it to him, Beverley fired the ball back at him with quite a bit of speed. He then continued to jar back and forth with the fans before Bucks players were able to get him to calm down and sit on the bench.
Another video of the incident shows Beverley initially throwing the ball at the first fan who was hit in the face.
Naturally, fans had quite a bit to say about this incident on social media.
Patrick Beverley plays like a loser, and handles his loss like a loser: pic.twitter.com/YMHao1p9pb
— Kent Merzlock (@Kentmerzlock) May 3, 2024
FINE INCOMING
Patrick Beverley chucked the ball at a fan at the end of the game after the Pacers eliminated the Bucks
pic.twitter.com/EskMEVIsqX — BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) May 3, 2024
Looks like for the second time in his career, Patrick Beverley will be starting his season with a suspension.
— Carmichael Dave (@CarmichaelDave) May 3, 2024
All you have to do is take a look at the video to see that this was far from your average passing back and forth between a player and a fan.
Beverley was either upset with what one of the fans said to him, or potentially just frustrated with his team’s performance in the game.
Perhaps it was a combination of both factors. But either way, it will be interesting to see whether the NBA takes notice of this incident.
We’ve seen in the past how dangerous things can get when fans and players get into these types of shouting matches with situations like “The Malice at the Palace.”
While this obviously wasn’t anywhere near as serious as that incident, it had the potential to end up being far worse than it was for everyone involved.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.