A Melee During Nets-Sixers Led To Jimmy Butler And Jared Dudley Getting Ejected

The Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers’ first round series has included a whole lot of tension between the two sides. Between the fact that the Nets and Sixers are division rivals and the war of words between Jared Dudley and Ben Simmons, it only seemed like a matter of time before that raw emotion was going to boil over.

That ended up happening in the third quarter of Saturday afternoon’s Game 4 in Brooklyn. Dudley had done everything he could to get under the Sixers’ skin earlier in the game, and seeing as how the Nets were ahead for most of the first half, his plan worked to one extent or another.

With 7:42 remaining in the third quarter and the Nets up by six, things finally exploded. Joel Embiid sent Jarrett Allen to the deck after a block that looked much worse live than it did on replay, which led to Dudley coming in and shoving the Sixers’ big man. Jimmy Butler gave Dudley a hard shove into the crowd, at which point Simmons came in. Dudley looked to wrap him up and pull him into the crowd, although it’s hard to tell exactly what happened in all the commotion.

After a lengthy review, Embiid was assessed a flagrant one, while Butler and Dudley were tossed from the game following each getting assessed technical fouls. Butler’s day came to an end after 11 points, four rebounds, four assists, and a pair of steals, while Dudley made an impact after getting inserted into the starting lineup, putting up eight points and five assists while also serving as the team’s emotional spark plug.