The Ins and Outs of an NBA Fight

I like having you on the show for a lot of reasons, but one is to get the player perspective on interesting issues in the league.

And I wanna ask you about something I saw in the New Orleans, Toronto game the other night.

Dejounte Murray, the recently returned Pelicans guard, was in a one on one situation at the end of the game against Toronto's Jamal Sheed.

Jamal Sheed is a very good defensive player.

He was in the grill of Dejounte Murray , bumped him a couple of times.

Murray made a couple of great moves, pulled up for 3, nailed the 3, and then stepped over.

Jamal Sheed and flexed right on top of him, doing a little bit of the Muhammad Ali right over Jamal Sheed.

And in the aftermath.

Nobody on Toronto really responded.

Nobody did anything.

You saw Emmanuel quickly kind of came over there and like had a brief word with him.

Now, I didn't play the game, Evan.

I didn't play it on your level, on that level, but I'm watching that and I'm going, how many other teams would someone have made a run at Dejounte Murray there?

Like, you go back and I, I immediately was triggered by the situation with Detroit.

In Charlotte from a couple of weeks ago where Isaiah Stewart comes off the bench to go after, um, Miles Bridges in that game.

I don't expect somebody to come off the bench and earn a suspension like that, but shouldn't somebody on the floor for the Raptors have done something?

Uh, I think, um, I, I don't give it too much over there.

Like, you know, guys that are competitive, um, you know, it, it was probably over the board like, uh.

What he did there, I got to see it on the uh, on film, but I don't want to make nothing more than it is.

Am I wrong about this?

What did you think when you saw that play develop?

Uh, you're not wrong at all.

It should have been, it should have been a 5 on 5 scuffle, especially for a young guy like Jamal Shed.

When it comes down to a vet and you see certain vets kind of do things to young guys, it's like when I keep bringing up his name when Draymond punched like Jordan Poole.

It's kind of like, hey, bro, have some.

We'll show respect, but have some respect for the game.

You just try to do a young dude this crazy.

And one thing that I, I've always said about team scuffles, we're around each other more than we're around our family.

Like we actually see each other naked.

Like, when people are like, I don't, like, you know what I mean?

When people are like, I don't want to, uh, lose my money, it's like, no, my guy, like there's a scuffle, you help your teammate.

Whether you like him or not, this is your brother.

I don't even want anybody looking on TV and I, I say what's up to his mom and be like, hey, why'd you leave my son on stuck?

You know what I mean.

Like, it's, it takes, ain't nobody gonna throw no punches, no anything.

It's the simple fact that the man.

Well, that's the thing too.

Like nobody's throwing a punch in these situations, so there's no fear of getting like clocked on a with a counterhot unless you're going up against Isaiah Stewart, I guess.

Then it's a ballgame.

But like that's the point.

Like there would have been no repercussions outside of maybe a low four-figure fine if somebody on that Raptors roster.

Made a run and got tangled up with, uh, Dejounte Murray.

Instead, they let him flex.

His own teammate was the one that pushed him back.

He went rolling backwards.

That was his own teammate gave him a bump and then quickly comes up and kind of like scolds him for 10 seconds.

Like, you gotta, you gotta do more than that.

That's, this is kind of an indictment, I think on the Raptors.

The Raptors just, it's kind of a soft team, man.

Like there's, there's nothing really impressive about Toronto.

Like they were a great story in the first half of the season.

Because nobody really thought they'd be a top 3 seed for as long as they are.

But the more you watch this team, the more of a ceiling you see that it has.

Like Scotty Barnes is a good player, but he's not proven to be a great player.

Brandon Ingraham is a great scorer, but he's yet to prove he can be a great player.

They don't have a lot of perimeter shooting.

They don't have a lot of rim protection.

They don't rebound the ball particularly well.

Like , and then you have a situation like this and you're just like, man.

Where, where are you guys?

Like, where are you guys backing up your teammate?

Like Jamal just had a great defensive possession.

It didn't go his way, but Murray's an excellent player, and Jamal did a terrific job defending him.

Murray made a great shot, and then you let this guy flex on top of you.

Come on, man.

Come on.

I feel like Charles Barkley here.

Come on, man.

Like, come on.

No, no, you're absolutely right, bro.

And when you sit there, the, the bigger thing is like we're trying to build a culture, make the playoffs, get ready.

We got punked by a younger team today.

You know what I mean?

Like when, when I worse than you, the Pelicans, yeah, yeah, and when we sit there to come out like as men, it's like, hey, shut up, bro.

Them boys in New Orleans just punked y'all.

What you gonna do with men?

Do you understand what I'm saying?

I , I just, that's my only thing.

It's just like, it, it comes down, there's a lot of uh nonverbal communication that goes on, goes on in basketball.

You know what I'm saying?

And, in those certain type of moments, it's not about giving up an inch, especially coming around playoff time.

I didn't like it.

I, I, I was, I was shocked cause I'm like, bro, like, shout out to Dejounte.

Murray, I heard he's a bad dude, but he's only 170.

Like, you know what I mean?

Like, that, that was, sometimes I'm like, bro, you gotta take the wins.

Like you're you could have won a shoving match like that.

But it was, uh, that was tough.

I'm a big Jamal Shed fan.

I'm sure everybody saw that, uh, back in college, him picking up the trash and everything, that video, like.

How he plays the game of basketball, his blue collar ways.

Like I, I, big, big fan of Jamal Shed, and I hate it even more because I, I believe if I was in the league, he's one of those young kids that you would really appreciate and root for in any sense.

Like, you know what I'm saying?

Like he's, he's, that kid, I don't know him personally, but that's a thorough, that's, that's what I felt worse about, was just like, man, that's a little thorough kid, bro.

That's a, that's an ill kid, you know, this takes, this takes the place of that.

Picture when Duncan Robinson kind of walked away from the wall between, like, I saw Duncan kind of like commented on that recently.

He's like, yeah, the optics weren't very good.

Like if, if it happens again, I gotta just gotta jump in there and do something.

But that's the same thing for the Raptors.

Like you gotta learn a lesson from that.

Like you cannot let one of your guys get punked like that and not respond and not respond in some way.

Yeah, you know.

Yeah, I told Zach I told Zach Collins that when he's a rookie, like the first couple of games, not saying he's getting punked, but people are trying him.

And I was like, bro, with all due respect, like you don't look like a punk.

Your dad don't look like a punk neither, like.

I was like, Hey, they're going to keep bothering you because you're white.

I'm like, at the very least, I'm like, they're not going to throw no punches.

Just get into a scuffle and they're going to leave you alone.

I'm like , I'm telling you, bro.

I'm like, I'm like, the second you stick up for yourself, half these people ain't even fought.

Believe me.

Only like, because, because when you, when you get older, it's like, bro, I used to get picked on.

Like, I've fought tons of times.

It wasn't because I was tough.

It's like, because I just got picked on.

You feel me?

I'm like, half these people who are supposed to be tough aren't tough.

So like when it comes to a scuffle, it's like, hey, the ref has to get in there.

If you got a teammate that cares about you, he got to get in there.

If Lord is on your side, he ain't gonna let nobody throw no punches.

Like it's, it's all in good game and then you leave and, and every woman in there thinks you're a badass, you know what I'm saying?

So based, based on the NBA player survey, the only player that I think guys think is tough is James Johnson.

Yeah, 1000, um, shoot, me and him are in like a, a DM text thread.

So like he's one of the only few people who I, uh, who I read every message from.

Like I don't want him thinking.

Like, you know, like you respond like, ha ha, that's funny.

I'm like, no, I wanna make sure he knows.

I looked at everything he said and I'm like, I'll be like, yeah, big dog, you're absolutely right.

No, no , and that's, that's facts.

We're literally every time I'm like, hold on, James, just DM me.

All right, OK.

All right, I will respond accordingly.

I don't, I don't even do that for my mom.

Oh, tremendous.