The Bucks-Pacers Game Ball Controversy And Why Giannis Is So Mad, Explained

As the Bucks put the finishing touches on a 140-124 win over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night in Milwaukee, Giannis Antetokounmpo put an exclamation mark on the proceedings with a dunk on the break with 26 seconds remaining.

With that dunk, Giannis set a career-high and Bucks franchise record for points with 64 and exacted a bit of revenge for last week’s In-Season Tournament semifinal loss to Indiana. The Pacers weren’t particularly happy that Giannis was still in the game late, but that was likely in part a response to a hard foul on Giannis earlier in the night by Aaron Nesmith that caused a scuffle.

That all sets the table for the postgame drama that saw confusion, anger, pettiness, and conspiracy run rampant at Fiserv Forum, as Giannis Antetokounmpo hunted down the game ball from his career night. Here, we’ll do our best to explain the timeline of the great game ball controversy of December 13, as well as what we know and don’t know about what happened to the basketball in question.

Immediately after the game, Giannis got into a heated exchange with Tyrese Haliburton and Pacers assistant coach Lloyd Pierce after being told the game ball from his career night had been swiped by the Pacers, eventually charging into the tunnel to confront the Pacers, re-emerging and again getting animated with Haliburton and Pierce demanding they get him the ball.

In his postgame press conference, Rick Carlisle said it was a misunderstanding where the Pacers grabbed the ball for rookie Oscar Tshiebwe, who scored his first official NBA point with a late free throw — he had scored one point in the In-Season Tournament final as well, but that didn’t count in the official regular season record. Carlisle also said the Pacers GM took a shot to the ribs in the fracas in the tunnel.

Damian Lillard found it all a bit amusing, but felt it was part of the “pettiness and gamesmanship” of the NBA.

However, the plot thickened even further when Carlisle said the Pacers learned they hadn’t even taken the actual game ball, but instead were given a reserve ball.

Video of the final buzzer confirmed that someone in a Bucks pullover, apparently a member of Bucks security, nabbed the actual game ball right after the game ended, which seemingly was going to end one of the dumbest controversies in the NBA this season.

Even with video evidence of the actual game ball going to someone in a Bucks pullover, Giannis was not convinced he had been given the correct game ball, noting the ball seemed “new” and didn’t feel right.

Pacers players then took to Twitter to express their confusion over how this entire situation unfolded.

To recap, it appears the correct game ball is in Giannis’ possession but he is skeptical and still a little mad about it. The Pacers claim they grabbed a ball that ended up not being the real one to give to a rookie who had already scored a point in the NBA but it was in a tournament that didn’t count officially so they wanted to celebrate when he scored another point (it makes it all so much funnier that both times he has scored one single point and not even two). Lillard, meanwhile, believes that is just cover for some gamesmanship and pettiness, which he seems to almost respect and, like most of us, finds the whole thing a little bit funny.