Just because the buzzer ended Tuesday night’s game five of the NBA Playoffs between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Indianapolis Pacers, it didn’t mean tensions weren’t still running high. After a narrow, overtime defeat, Bucks’ star Giannis Antetokounmpo was in a head-to-head shouting match. Not with Pacers’ star Tyrese Haliburton, but with his father.
According to NBC News, Haliburton’s father, John, had come onto the court to celebrate. He “displayed a towel with his son’s image while yelling, “this is what we (expletive) do.”
Video footage then shows Giannis pursuing John Haliburton across the court and touching foreheads with the man as the two shout something unintelligible at each other. Giannis was then pulled away by team staffers.
Haliburton told NBC News, “Unfortunate what happened there (the scuffle), but I think it’s just competition,” he added. “As far as my pops, I don’t agree with what happened there. We’ll have a conversation.”
Antetokounmpo was equally upset over the incident. “I feel like that’s very, very disrespectful,” said Antetokounmpo. He later explained that he did not know it was John Haliburton; he thought a fan had run onto the court.
John Haliburton later admitted to making a poor decision. “I sincerely apologize to Giannis, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Pacers organization for my actions following tonight’s game,” he said. “This was not a good reflection on our sport or my son and I will not make that mistake again.” In an interview with TMJ4 News, the elder Haliburton said he wasn’t trying to yell directly at Giannis. He said he barely knew he was there as he waved the flag.
