Tensions flare up Sunday night when three players were kicked out of a thunderstorm crash.
Oklahoma City took the lead six times and played just over three minutes in the third quarter, with San Antonio forward Jeremy Sochan skiing for the dunk.
However, rather than celebrating the dunk, Sochan rushed to the midcourt of the court The brawl has begun.
“I went to the dunk and all I see is everyone goes to one place.” Sochan said after the match. “So like I had to go to the same place.”
At its core was all Julian Champany of the Spurs and Kenrich Williams of the Thunder.
While Champagne made the pass, he He attacked Williams in the face with his elbow – Or at least that's how Williams reacted. The two immediately began pushing their chins back and forth before escalating immediately.
“When people are offensive, there are a lot of accidental elbows and contacts,” said Spurs interim coach Mitch Johnson. “To be honest, I really don't know who was negligent. But it seemed like what started it. And there was a response on both ends.”
Champanee and Williams were the stars of the brawl, but Sochan and Oklahoma City's Rudort were among those involved.
Champagnie, Williams, Sochan and Dort all received double technical. Everything except Sochan was kicked out. According to Thunder's head coach Mark Deanoo, Dort was kicked out for what he said.
De'aaron Fox, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Stephon Castle, Keldon Johnson, Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins were the other players on the court of the time, all involved in the argument.
The Thunder won 146-132.
“Did you have an argument?” Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams joked in a post-match interview with ESPN. “It refocused us and realized what was important.”
Williams finished at a career high so certainly didn't focus again. 41 pointsplus 7 assists, 6 rebounds and zero turnovers.
He wasn't happy with the team, but Daigneault said there was a reason for Thunder's complaints.
“We weren't a team that was retaliating much,” Daigneault said. “We retaliated tonight. We have the worst free throw differential in the NBA… I think there's cumulative frustration.
