'Sorry not sorry': Ex-NBA star blames spectator for wild NBL incident ...

In scenes akin to NBA’s Malice in the Palace, visiting Adelaide 36ers players and a courtside fan got involved in a physical altercation in the fourth quarter of Melbourne United’s thumping 113-93 win at John Cain Arena on Sunday.

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It all boiled over when 36ers superstar Montrezl Harrell got hit with an offensive foul on a drive to the basket and showed his displeasure by kicking out at opposing centre Rob Loe when both were sprawled on the floor.

A scuffle ensued between both sets of players, leading to Harrell taking a swipe at United point guard Shea Ili, who had been chirping in his direction.

While the referees reviewed the play, words were exchanged between courtside fans and the 36ers players, who had retreated to the bench.

The fan seemed to shove 36ers guard Dejan Vasiljevic, which Harrell and point guard Kendric Davis took exception to.

Harrell and United guard Shea Ili were ejected from the game, so, too, was the fan.

ESPN reported four spectators were ejected in total after Davis and 36ers GM of basketball Matt Weston were also allegedly pushed by a fan.

On social media, Harrell blamed the fan’s attempt to try and be tough on the incident escalating.

“But I’m the bad guy right I literally try calm down but then mf want try the tuff (two poo emojis). so now I’m riding for my team sorry not sorry (three shrug emojis)️,” he tweeted.

Tennis player Nick Kyrgios responded: “Spectators should sit down and shut up and clap that’s about it trezz I’m with you.”

36ers coach Mike Wells only caught the aftermath of both the on-court incident and the fan involvement as he was shuffling between both tense situations.

“I literally was sort of in between, so I really don’t know what happened,” Wells said.

“By the time I got there, the fans were screaming at our players, and being really really aggressive with our players.

“I’ve been in the NBA for a long time, I’ve seen a lot of different fights, but when people are right in the front row, they cannot do that.

“They can pay their money, they can cheer, they can yell, but as soon as they start putting their hands on people, now it’s a different game.

“From what I saw, they put hands on our GM [Matt Weston].”

Wells said that Harrell addressed the 36ers players in the rooms post-game to explain his role in the incident to his teammates.

“He spoke to the group, we’ll keep that in-house,” he said.

Wells loved the passion in the game by both sets of players, but believed the line was crossed when fans got involved.

“That’s part of our group coming together, I love it, hustle environment, playing basketball,” he said.

“I don’t want to have fights in the game and stuff, I never want to have that.

“We want to come in here and we want to compete and take it to the point, right to the line and never cross the line.

“That’s about competition and I think we all love competition and that’s why we do what we do.

“There’s one thing within the lines and the court, right, whatever happened out there, I saw a lot of guys instigating instead of separating and that’s not good, and then I saw fans instigating and that’s not good.

“There’s one thing on the court, but it can’t happen with the fans, pay your money and do anything you want, but you just can’t touch people.”

United coach Dean Vickerman was content that his players’ intentions were largely to simmer the initial scuffle that broke out on court.

Vickerman was disappointed to see the altercation between a fan and the 36ers bench.

“It’s something you never want to see, right,” Vickerman said.

“Fans are there to view the game and support the game.

“You never want to see a crossover between players and fans, you want to see it in the part of engagement and stuff like that, but obviously we’ve crossed the line in the game there where they’ve reacted to whatever has been said and it’s something that we don’t want to see.”

The 36ers, trailing by 12 at three quarter time, tried to make a game of it after Harrell exited with 20 points, getting the deficit back to seven, with star Kendric Davis running rampant.

The import point guard registered 30 points, including 17-18 (94%) from the free throw line, and 11 assists and six rebounds in a performance that strengthened his MVP bid.

But United steadied and will head into the FIBA international break with their chest beat out on a three-game winning streak.

The 36ers have been hammered by United on both occasions this season, souring their recent hot run of form that has seen them win six of their past nine games and enter the championship discussion.

Strength in depth

United’s dominance over the 36ers highlighted their incredible depth.

Even without injured star forward Jack White, United found a way to pile on 113 points.

A huge key was their bench points, out-scoring the 36ers by a whopping 53-12.

Flynn Cameron and Ian Clark were scorching hot with the second unit.

Cameron was the star of the show with 21 points, including seven triples, while Clark scored 20, both converting over 50% of their attempts.

Rot set in early

36ers coach Mike Wells opted to trust his starters to work out their issues after United responded to 36ers’ 4-0 start to the game with a furious 13-0 run.

A succession of missed 36ers shots forced Wells’ hand into an unplanned time out.

The 36ers were out of sync early and that was demonstrated best by Harrell simply dribbling out the 24-second shot clock on one play.

While Harrell showed a lack of self awareness, his teammates had a concerning lack of voice, and the connection just did not seem there for the visitors.

CG from deep

A huge Goulding three on the buzzer had United up 29-22 at quarter time.

With White sidelined, United coach Dean Vickerman called on the little used Toby Koppens and Akech Aliir.

Aliir made his way into the highlights reel with a huge dunk.

Goulding repeated the dose with a huge triple on the half time buzzer to give United a huge 13 point advantage.

The 36ers had never come back from a half time deficit against United at John Cain Arena and weren’t going to start on this occasion.

A third Cameron triple in the third quarter had United’s lead out to a game-high 17 and the game threatened to unravel for the 36ers before tensions well and truly boiled over.

NBL SCOREBOARD

Melbourne United 113 (Cameron 21 Clark 20 Goulding 19) d Adelaide 36ers 93 (Davis 30 Harrell 20 Vasiljevic 15)

At John Cain Arena, Melbourne