30 players separated, 4 ejected in Jazz Pacers game

On Thursday night, the Utah Jazz were off to a bad start against the Indiana Pacers. Tension was high from the beginning when the Jazz were losing and it was clear they thought the officials were not making fair calls.

The buildup and the scuffle

The “fight” happened between Jazz Rudy Gobert and Pacers Myles Turner. Gobert jumped up to shoot but was blocked by Turner. Gobert thought there was a foul on the play so when he fell to the ground, he grabbed Turner by the shorts and brought him down with him. With both players on the floor, Turner threw his arms up when the officials didn’t call a foul on Gobert. This clearly didn’t sit well with Turner, and the brouhaha ensued.

Both players stood, but Turner body checked Gobert, who turned around and charged Turner for the bear hug. The teammates on both sides wasted no time running over to the two, some trying to stop the commotion, and others joining. Well, really it was just Joe Ingles who joined in. He sprinted towards the two and shoved the official out of the way. As he charged Turner, he was stopped by Pacers Kelan Martin. Donovan Mitchell and Royce O’Neal ran into the middle of the scuffle, and security started separating the players. Mitchell broke free and started running towards and yelling at both the players and officials.

Consequences of the commotion

In the end, Turner and Gobert were ejected for the altercation and Ingles and Mitchell for instigating and escalating the situation.

The players seemed to agree that the situation went as far as it did due to the officials letting things get out of hand and failing to call fouls on both sides.

Ingles declined to speak, but Turner had this to say: “I thought all of that could have been prevented, but that’s beside the point. When he pulled me down I wasn’t about to take that, so, kept it rolling.”

Mitchell was a bit more blunt: “It’s really at a point now, especially tonight, where the referees are allowing things to get out of hand. You’ve got to draw the line early, otherwise you’re going to get situations like that. We’re in a situation where we feel like we can possibly come back and then you eject three key guys? Have that energy in the first quarter.”

Gobert’s account described the “fight” realistically: “First of all, we know we’re not going to fight. Guys need to stop acting like they’re going to fight because we know that in two seconds there’s going to be 20 security guards in between us. They know that it plays good for the cameras, but we know we’re not going to fight.”

It’s possible we could see some fines and suspensions in the coming days.