The Hornets rolled over the Wizards on Wednesday night in Charlotte, cruising to an easy win over the mercurial and maddeningly inconsistent Washington club. However, the win didn’t come without incident, as the two teams became the latest to see tempers flare and fists fly.
The NBA has seen more fights in the past few weeks than any time in recent memory, as tensions appear high in the Association. In the past eight days we’ve had Serge Ibaka and James Johnson’s dust up, Ben Simmons and Kyle Lowry try to take things to the tunnel, the Rockets storming the Clippers locker room, and Arron Afflalo swinging wildly on Nemanja Bjelica. Suffice it to say it’s been a feisty couple of weeks in the NBA.
On Wednesday night, it was Michael Carter-Williams and Tim Frazier getting into it, although in this instance no punches got thrown as other players and staffers were quick to pull both to their respective benches.
MCW and Tim Frazier ejected after another NBA fight nearly breaks out in Charlotte… https://t.co/KrklB069Hl
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) January 18, 2018
MCW clearly took exception to being stepped over (seemingly unintentionally) by Jason Smith, tripping the big man and then popping up to go after him. While he was being pulled away, Frazier darted into the mix and got himself wrapped up by an official and hauled away. Both were ejected from the game, and fines are to follow, but considering no punches were thrown, it would be surprising if the punishment extends beyond that.
In any case, it’s just the latest example of the strangely chippy nature of what is usually the NBA’s midseason lull. Players appear to be on edge around the league and continue to find themselves in fights of varying magnitudes.
