Myron Gardner finally opens up about his bizarre scuffle against Scotty Pippen Jr. originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
On Saturday, the Miami Heat beat the Memphis Grizzlies by 16 points. However, that was not the primary story from that game because Myron Gardner and Scotty Pippen Jr. were involved in a scuffle that saw them both ejected from the game.
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They were handed out punishments in the form of a $35,000 fine. Both players avoided suspensions, which is an intriguing result from that kind of altercation. Pippen was angry because Gardner seemingly tackled him from the back after making a jump shot, but the latter disagrees with that perspective.
Gardner was surprised by Pippen’s anger during their altercation
Pippen retaliated because he thought that Gardner had taken a cheap shot at him. He had no idea that the Heat guard was behind him, so Pippen made sure to call out his Miami counterpart. Unfortunately, Pippen’s frustration got the best of him, which led to the altercation.
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Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra did not see what happened, as he only saw that Pippen was on the floor. Spoelstra made sure to show support for Gardner, considering he is a Heat player.
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Gardner obviously disagrees with Pippen’s thoughts on the situation. He has said that he did not intend for that to happen, which was why he was shocked when Pippen came at him.
“I was just running back on defense, so my momentum took me toward him. I was just paying attention to the game, then saw him come last minute, so he sorta surprised me a little bit. It was fun, it’s just basketball, it’s part of it. I don’t know too much about Scotty. I know about Scottie Pippen Sr,” Gardner said in response to his fine from the scuffle.
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It was a bizarre situation because most people thought that Pippen lost his composure. Gardner and Spoelstra think that, but Pippen might have a legitimate gripe with the situation because Gardner’s collision with him did not look good for the Heat guard when watching the clip.
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