Warriors center calls out Marcus Smart’s ‘fake toughness’ after punch leads to ejection
Marcus Smart took a swing at Golden State’s Charles Bassey and got himself ejected from the Warriors’ 115-108 loss to the Rockets on Wednesday night in Houston.
The Warriors center saved his punches for after the game.
“Obviously,” Bassey said, “that was weak.”
Bassey and Smart got tangled up going for a rebound on a Warriors offensive possession late in the third quarter. They continued the spat down to the opposite end of the court, and Smart eventually turned and put his chest into Bassey. Then, he took a step back and threw a punch.
Bassey kept his arms by his side during the whole exchange.
He wasn’t impressed — or intimidated.
“I just think that, honestly, that was fake toughness,” Bassey said. “It didn’t surprise me. I knew he was going to do something. … I don’t think he was trying to play. I think he was trying to get himself out of the game. If he was trying to play, he wouldn’t do that. I think he was trying to chill. He wasn’t trying to hoop, bro. That was fake — fake toughness.”
According to Bassey’s account, he was just trying to grab an offensive rebound when Smart took hold of his hand. Even as the game shifted to the other end of the court, he wouldn’t let go.
Earlier, Bassey said, Smart grabbed his knee while setting a screen.
“He’s been playing dirty the whole game, man,” Bassey said.
As they were going back and forth down the court, Bassey said, “He said, ‘Hey, don’t do that.’ And I said, ‘Do what?’ Like, it’s a grown-ass league, you know? But he was trying to chill tonight.”
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