Bucks-Grizz gets weird: Henson ejected, Barnes just runs off court
Wednesday’s matchup between the Memphis Grizzlies and Milwaukee Bucks got awfully physical in the fourth quarter, with Bucks big man John Henson getting uncharacteristically wrestling-heelish on a pair of late-game plays that would lead to flagrants, technicals, one clear ejection, one ejection-that-wasn’t, and the latest installment in the ongoing saga that is Matt Barnes’ insistence on having his behavior reviewed by the disciplinarians in the NBA’s main office.
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Business began to pick up with just under four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, and the Bucks holding a 10-point lead after an 18-6 early-fourth run knocked the still injury-plagued and woefully undermanned Grizzlies back on their heels. After Bucks rookie Damien Inglis blocked a layup attempt by Grizzlies forward JaMychal Green, Memphis’ Lance Stephenson picked up the loose ball and attempted to elevate for a layup.
Henson contested not by going for a block, but rather by grabbing Stephenson up high and throwing him to the hardwood. Moreover, Henson seemed to taunt Stephenson afterward, earning the ire of Stephenson and Barnes and prompting two officials to race over to separate the players. Henson was assessed both a flagrant foul-1 for unnecessary contact and a technical foul.
The Grizzlies made all three free throws to cut the deficit to 88-81, but couldn’t make any concerted runs due to what seemed like a combination of being shorthanded, gassed and unable to match the defensive intensity, athleticism and fresh legs of the Bucks’ young bench. With Milwaukee’s lead back up to 10 in the closing seconds, Henson looked to put an exclamation point on the victory by sending a Barnes layup out of bounds … and that’s when things got interesting:
As soon as Henson came down after swatting Barnes’ shot, he started mean-mugging the vet. Barnes, as you might expect, didn’t take too kindly to that, and came over to get in Henson’s face; the refs once again separated the players, and Henson held his stinkface throughout a walk off the court, toward the tunnel, back onto the court and back to the Bucks’ bench. All that taunting earned him another technical foul, which meant an automatic ejection; as Henson walked to the locker room, he held his hands up in victory, exhorting the BMO Harris Bradley Center crowd before taking off his jersey and throwing it up into the stands.
Barnes, for his part, only received a technical, and was not ejected from the game. And yet, despite there being 5.5 seconds remaining on the clock, Barnes just ran off the court and back toward the locker room, leading many — including, you’d suspect, the multiple staffers and team officials who gave chase — to assume that the famously hot-headed Barnes was chasing after Henson to continue their on-court scuffle outside the white lines.
I’m guessing “Barnes ejection: No ejection” is where the poor scorekeeper has to figure out how to say “dude just ran out of the gym”
— Kevin Lipe (@FlyerGrizBlog) March 18, 2016
To what degree anything did happen back there remains somewhat unclear:
Matt Barnes can expect a hefty fine/suspension for post game antics.
— Gery Woelfel (@GeryWoelfel) March 18, 2016
Several sources said Barnes entered Bucks locker room after game looking for Henson.
— Gery Woelfel (@GeryWoelfel) March 18, 2016
Hearing that Barnes got as far down the hall as the door to the #Bucks‘ locker room but there was no off-court confrontation with anyone.
— Pratik Patel (@PatelESPN) March 18, 2016
Matt Barnes did not enter the Bucks locker room tonight.
— Aron Yohannes (@AronYohannes) March 18, 2016
Henson did have some scrapes on his face when he met with media after the game — which the Bucks won 96-86, by the way — but those appear to have been sustained in the course of on-court action rather than in anything extracurricular, and the security personnel evidently did their jobs in keeping the situation from boiling over after everyone hit the showers:
Heard John Henson was delayed from leaving the Bradley Center. Held at the door until the Grizzlies bus left as a precaution.
— Matt Velazquez (@Matt_Velazquez) March 18, 2016
Both Henson and Barnes were escorted from BC by a spate of security guards.
— Gery Woelfel (@GeryWoelfel) March 18, 2016
“Just got in the heat of things, man, guys going back and forth,” Henson said of his ejection, according to Matt Velasquez of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. “It happens. I’m just glad it didn’t hurt my team, man.”
Well, not on Thursday, anyway. It seems very likely that Henson will receive a suspension of some sort; the flagrant on Stephenson combined with the post-block preening and the unnecessary escalation of matters in a game with less than six seconds remaining don’t represent the kind of behavior on which the league office typically smiles.
Barnes, however, figures to be a more interesting matter. On one hand, while leaving the court before the official end of the game could get him in trouble, it’s not yet clear whether he actually did anything objectionable once he got into the back. On the other, though, someone who’s had as many run-ins with the league’s disciplinarians as Barnes has over the years isn’t likely to get the benefit of the doubt:
Based purely on reputation, Barnes is going to get fined for tonight, even if he didn’t actually do anything.
— Kevin Lipe (@FlyerGrizBlog) March 18, 2016
Would be a shame if Matt Barnes gets suspended by the league for the Clippers game. Not saying he will. But they’ll review the happenings.
— Peter Edmiston (@peteredmiston) March 18, 2016
With five Grizzlies (Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, Brandan Wright, Jordan Adams, P.J. Hairston) on the inactive list and three more (Zach Randolph, Chris Andersen, Vince Carter) also sidelined by injuries, Memphis has just 10 healthy bodies at this point, including four recent D-League call-ups/10-day contract additions and center Ryan Hollins, a previous 10-day recipient added for the rest of the season because, well, you need at least some tall people in this league.
Barnes, Stephenson, Tony Allen, JaMychal Green and rookie Jarell Martin are the only Grizzlies left standing who, for lack of a better word, are supposed to be here right now. With precious little help in terms of returning healthy players on the horizon, Dave Joerger can ill afford to lose any of those “supposed to be here” guys, especially after three straight losses and with a brutal upcoming schedule. If Barnes winds up being forced to take a seat, he and Grizzlies fans could wind up rueing his inability to just walk away on the day John Henson decided to start working on a bad guy gimmick.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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