NBA News: Bucks, Kings Players in Heated Tunnel Exchange After Jason Kidd Ejection
The Sacramento Kings played without star center DeMarcus Cousins in their game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night, but still managed to get a convincing victory, 129-118. The entire game, though, was overshadowed by the commotion involving players from both teams in the tunnel as soon as everyone started heading to their locker rooms.
The verbal exchange among players came shortly after Bucks head coach Jason Kidd was ejected late in the fourth and with the game already decided.
The key figures in the altercation were Bucks guard O.J. Mayo and Kings injured center DeMarcus Cousins, to which the former was seen daring the latter to join him in the hallway. The tunnel at the BMO Harris Bradley Center eventually became the centerpiece of the issue, where several players, as well as police officers, crowded the tight space.
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For Kidd, who claims that he has no part of it whatsoever, frustration came to a boiling point with just 1:49 left in the game after he slapped the ball away from one referee's hand. He was restrained by Mayo and his assistant coaches before leaving the game.
Reporters asked for his take on what happened in the tunnel and he simply said he wasn't really certain. "I was having a Coke and some popcorn, so I don't know. I was sent in early," referring to his ejection in the fourth quarter.
But he did recognize that the altercation or his ejection weren't the reasons why they lost the game even if the Kings were without their leading scorer and rebounder. "But that wasn't the issue of the game. We gave them warm-up jump shots. They got our temperature, saw we didn't want to play defense and they took advantage of it," Kidd said.
Several of Mayo's teammates accompanied him to the parking lot after the altercation, including point guard Jerry Bayless, who was also present in the heated exchange in the tunnel.
