During a tense matchup between Oklahoma City and San Antonio, a scuffle broke out late in the third quarter, resulting in three player ejections. Jalen Williams of the Thunder downplayed the incident, noting it helped the team refocus. The altercation arose after a physical elbow incident and escalated as players from both sides became involved, prompting coaches and officials to intervene. Spurs acting coach Mitch Johnson commented on the nature of aggressive play contributing to such incidents, indicating a need for clarity on foul boundaries in high-pressure situations.
Guarding Champagnie on the wing with 3:00 left in the third quarter, Williams took an elbow to the jaw from the San Antonio forward as he fired a pass into the lane to Stephon Castle, who found a cutting Sochan under the basket for a two-handed jam. As that play unfolded, Williams and Champagnie stood near the scorer's table, shoving one another.
We had an altercation?" Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams jokingly asked during his postgame interview on the court with ESPN. "It made us refocus, figure out what's important.
When people are aggressive, there are a lot of coincidental elbows or contact," Spurs acting coach Mitch Johnson said. "But it just looked like that was what initiated it. And then there was the response on both ends.
Players, officials, security personnel and coaches from both teams immediately rushed to Williams and Champagnie to break up the scuffle. But the situation escalated as Sochan and Dort grabbed one another in a scrum that involved more than 10 people.
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