Tensions flared Sunday night when three players were ejected from a Thunders-Spurs clash.
With Oklahoma City leading by six with a little more than three minutes to play in the third quarter, San Antonio forward Jeremy Sochan skied in for a dunk.
Rather than celebrate the dunk, though, Sochan rushed to mid-court where the scuffle had begun.
“I went for a dunk, and then all I see is just everyone going to one spot,” Sochan said postgame. “So, like I had to go to the same spot.”
At the nucleus of it all were the Spurs’ Julian Champagnie and the Thunder’s Kenrich Williams.
While Champagnie made a pass, he struck Williams in the face with his elbow — or at least that’s how Williams reacted. The two instantly began jawing and shoving back and forth before it escalated.
“When people are aggressive, there are a lot of coincidental elbows or contact,” Spurs interim coach Mitch Johnson said. “I don’t really know who was at fault, to be honest. But it just looked like that was what initiated it. And then there was the response on both ends.”
While Champagnie and Williams were the stars of the scuffle, Sochan and Oklahoma City’s Lu Dort were among those who also got involved.
Champagnie, Williams, Sochan and Dort all received double technicals — and all except Sochan were ejected. According to Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault, Dort’s ejection was for something he said.
De’Aaron Fox, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Stephon Castle, Keldon Johnson, Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins were the other players on the court at the time and all were involved in the altercation.
The Thunder went on to win, 146-132.
“We had an altercation?” Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams joked during his postgame interview with ESPN. “It made us refocus, figure out what’s important.”
Williams certainly had no trouble refocusing as he finished with a career-high 41 points, alongside seven assists, six rebounds and zero turnovers.
While he wasn’t happy with his team, Daigneault said there was reason for the Thunder’s frustration.
“We have not been a team that’s retaliated very much,” Daigneault said. “We retaliated tonight. We have the worst free throw differential in the NBA … I think there’s a cumulative frustration, and I think our guys finally got to a point where they had had enough.”
