There was a bit of a bizarre moment near the end of the Philadelphia 76ers’ 125-108 win over the Washington Wizards Saturday night.
Following a timeout with just under three minutes to go and the Sixers holding a 17-point lead, there was a delay in the action as the officials were at the monitor. Nobody seemed to be aware of what the officials were looking for.
As it turns out, they were looking at an incident that happened in the stands as Wizards guard Isaiah Thomas went into the crowd to confront a pair of Sixers fans. After the initial confusion, video surfaced of the incident.
Isaiah Thomas goes into the stands to confront some fanspic.twitter.com/cxmR452i4I
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) December 22, 2019
Thomas was ejected from the game for entering the stands, and two Sixers fans were also removed from the arena.
The situation could have easily escalated into something much uglier and it’s fortunate that it didn’t go beyond an exchanging of words. Surely the NBA, the Sixers, Thomas, and Sixers fans are breathing a sigh of relief.
It’s unclear what the fans said to prompt Thomas to go into the stands and confront them. It’s interesting that all involved parties, and especially Thomas, appear to be quite calm during the altercation. Even as he exited to the locker room, Thomas cordially interacted with another Sixers fan and gave his headband to a young fan sitting nearby.
It will be interesting to see if we get more details on the incident, but for now, it serves as a strange footnote to the Sixers victory. [lawrence-related id=21846,21836,21800]