Getty Tyrese Haliburton, Giannis Antetokounmpo
The Milwaukee Bucks game against the Indiana Pacers on December 13 got a little testy there at the end.
After Giannis Antetokounmpo put up a career-high 64 points, Antetokounmpo, in a fit of rage went back to the Pacers locker room, believing they took the game ball.
Giannis tried to go into the Pacers locker room after they took the game ball from his 64 piece
When he came back onto the court, Giannis got into it a bit with Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, though it’s unclear why he was enraged with specifically Haliburton.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Tyrese Haliburton shared a heated exchange following the game.
After that whole ordeal, Haliburton took to his personal X account to throw some shade at the Bucks. He tweeted out a photoshopped picture of the iconic children’s book, “The Cat in the Hat.” However, he replaced “The Cat in the Hat” with “The Capp on this App” in the tweet. Haliburton clearly references the X app while also using “cap,” i.e., slang for lies.
This was also not the first time Antetokounmpo and Haliburton got into it during the game itself. During the second quarter, Haliburton collided with Antetokoumnpo in what appeared to be a bit of a shoulder bump on Antetokounmpo’s part.
Giannis Antetokounmpo knocked Tyrese Haliburton to the ground. 😳
What Actually Happened to the Game Ball
Footage released showed that the Pacers didn’t actually take the game ball but the replacement. Furthermore, a security guard appeared to have taken the ball, per Scott Agness’ X account.
Video from Bucks telecast clearly shows Bucks security got the game ball and handed it to a team staffer.
National crisis over.
Pacers’ head coach Rick Carlisle further clarified the situation, explaining that they weren’t trying to keep the ball away from Giannis Antetokoumnpo.
Carlisle on the postgame scrum between the #Pacers and Bucks: “There was a misunderstanding about the game ball. It was Oscar Tshiebwe’s first official NBA point. We always get the game ball. We were not thinking about Giannis’ franchise record. … Unfortunate situation.”
“What happened after the game was unfortunate. There was a misunderstanding about the game ball. It was Oscar Tshiebwe‘s first official NBA point, so we always get the game ball. We were not thinking about Giannis’ franchise record, so we grabbed the ball, and a couple of minutes later, several of their players ended up in our hallway, and there was a big fracas,” Carlisle told reporters, per Bally Sports Indiana.
Carlisle further explained why he wasn’t happy with how things escalated after that.
“We don’t need the official game ball; there are two game balls. We could have taken the other, and it didn’t need to escalate to that.”
Luckily it didn’t turn into an all-out brawl, but although Giannis’ actions were understandable, it still felt like an aggressive overreaction.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Speaks on Game Ball Incident
Though he eventually got the game ball, Giannis Antetokounmpo expressed his skepticism that he received the authentic ball that they played with during his postgame press conference.
“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. It feels like a brand new ball… I played 35 minutes today. I know what the game ball felt like.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo on the situation with the game ball 😳
“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. It feels like a brand-new ball. I could tell (because) I played 35 minutes today. I know what the game ball felt like. The other ball, which I will take, and I will give it to my mom for sure, but I don’t know if it’s actually the game ball,” Antetokounmpo said during his postgame press conference, per ClutchPoint X account.
Antetokoumnpo added why he’s at peace with whether he has the actual game ball or not.
“It’s okay. Life continues. I don’t even have the game ball from Game 6 of the NBA Finals, which hurts me. It’s just unfortunate. I’ve never seen this before.”
Antetokoumnpo also assured reporters that he knew the Pacers had the game ball. These conflicting stories from both sides could lead to some tension the next time they meet.