Friday night’s game between the Miami Heat and the New Orleans Pelicans saw tensions boil over early on in the fourth quarter. A hard foul on Zion Williamson by Kevin Love led to some pushing and shoving between the two teams, which escalated to players needing to be separated from one another.
It’s unclear if anything got said in the scrum between the two teams, but the thing that appeared to set everything off came when Naji Marshall put his hand around Jimmy Butler’s throat after Butler shoved him (and, it’s worth mentioning, looks like he made contact with Marshall’s neck). This set Butler off, while Jaime Jaquez ran in and tried to go after Marshall, who was pulled away from things by Jordan Hawkins.
Naji Marshall choked Jimmy
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— Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) February 24, 2024
Even after the situation looked like it started to settle down, the two teams went at it once again. You can see it around the 37-second mark of the second clip below, but something got said between Jose Alvarado and Thomas Bryant that led to the two of them needing to be separated.
Tempers are flaring in New Orleans
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— Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) February 24, 2024
Getting chippy in NOLA
@PelicansNBA | #Pelicans | @BallySports
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— Bally Sports New Orleans (@BallySportsNO) February 24, 2024
In all, Butler, Marshall, Thomas Bryant, and Jose Alvarado were ejected from the game. And it wasn’t just the teams getting involved, as someone in a Dwyane Wade jersey who was sitting in the stands got tossed, as well.
Chippyness happening in the stands too
— Bally Sports New Orleans (@BallySportsNO) February 24, 2024
At the time of the fracas, Miami held an 84-80 lead over New Orleans.