Prior to the season, not many would’ve circled Bucks-Kings on the calendar in March and expected it to produce one of the more intense and exciting games of the season, but that’s what we got in Sacramento on Monday night.
The top-seed in the East and the three-seed in the West went toe-to-toe, with Milwaukee coming back from a double digit deficit to win the game 133-124, but not before some fireworks in the final minute. After a physical game, Giannis Antetokounmpo was dribbling the clock out when he cut across the court towards the Bucks bench in front of Trey Lyles. Lyles decided to reach in and try to poke the ball away, fouling Giannis and then shoving him away.
Brook Lopez took exception to that and got in Lyles face, which led to Lyles mushing Lopez’s face and sparking a brawl. Lyles appeared to have his hand on Lopez’s neck while Brook had a firm grip of Lyles’ head that he would not let go of, pushing Lyles and a pile of bodies onto the scorers table as everyone tried to pry and incensed Lopez away.
Don't mess with Giannis.
Unless you want to deal with Brook. pic.twitter.com/78LlyCmF0C
— Bally Sports Wisconsin (@BallySportWI) March 14, 2023
Lopez had been running hot for a bit, as he had taken a shot to the eye that had him bleeding earlier in the fourth and that fire was still smoldering when Lyles put his hand in his face and that led to Brook snapping. Lopez is a very large individual and it took a lot of people to separate the two, with Lopez eventually getting escorted back to the Bucks bench. You don’t often see the Bucks center get that mad, but he and Lyles both earned their ejections just prior to the end of the game, with Milwaukee coming out ahead with the win.
