It got pretty darn ugly late in Wednesday night’s game between the Memphis Grizzlies and New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
With Memphis up big late in the fourth quarter, Jae Crowder attempted a three-pointer. That did not sit well with Knicks guard Elfrid Payton, who committed a hard foul on his counterpart.
This led to the benches clearing, a near-malee breaking loose, Knicks fans getting into it with their coaches and ugly chants from fans inside MSG.
One day after the fact, and the NBA has handed down multiple suspensions. Payton has been suspended for one game. He’s joined by Grizzlies players Jaren Jackson Jr. and Marko Guduric in having to sit out Memphis’ next game.
Interestingly enough, the two main culprits in the incident were not suspended. Crowder and Marcus Morris each received fines.
Morris made news after the game with sexist remarks directed at Crowder, remarks that went viral in the process.
The fines and suspensions seemed to be par for the course here. Though, we do wonder why Crowder was even fined. He attempted a three-pointer up 18 with less than one minute left. That did not warrant the reaction from Payton.