While fighting for their postseason lives on Wednesday night, the tension between the Oklahoma City Thunder and New Orleans Pelicans was palpable.
In the fourth quarter of this tight play-in game battle — one where the Thunder prevailed 123-118 — the competitive hostility might have been best encapsulated by the Thunder’s Josh Giddey and the Pelicans’ Josh Richardson.
As Giddey tried to create some dribbling space for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Richardson appeared to take a shot below Giddey’s belt. The Thunder guard took an understandable exception to this before having to be kept from Richardson by his teammates. Richardson would be given a flagrant foul for his troubles.
The ensuing scrum and replay showed Giddey sharing some kind of warning to Richardson.
Tempers flare after Josh Richardson’s flagrant foul on Josh Giddey. pic.twitter.com/pFWOuMaDsb
— ESPN (@espn) April 13, 2023
Josh Richardson hits Josh Giddey below the belt, and Giddey tried to go after him 😳
Richardson was hit with a flagrant foul penalty 1.
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) April 13, 2023
While it seems apparent what Giddey told Richardson, NBA fans did their best lip-reading to try and confirm what was said in this tense moment.
(Warning: NSFW language in some of the clips and tweets below.)