A particularly physical game between the Washington Wizards and the Boston Celtics Wednesday night got even more intense after the game when Wizard's guard John Wall slapped Celtic Jae Crowder in the face.
It all started when, rather than come together to shake hands after the buzzer sounded, the two exchanged some heated banter in the middle of the floor. And Crowder turned things up a notch by sticking his finger in Wall's face, which Wall didn't take kindly to and reacted with a swift love tap sort of smack to the side of Crowder's bearded face.
The whole thing happened so fast, we're not even sure Wall made contact. But based purely on Crowder's reaction, he must have. The one thing that could have possibly precipitated the near melee is Crowder's aggressive defense on Wall during this fastbreak in the first half.
John. Wall. Dimes. https://t.co/9HwjSK2J1L
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 12, 2017
Afterwards, Washington took collective issue with what they called Boston's questionable style of play.
Brooks: "Thats not the way basketball is supposed to be played. Ur supposed to play in a way that's supposed to be free flowing" #WizCeltics
— J. Michael (@ThisIsJMichael) January 12, 2017
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Despite all the extracurricular, which also included some second half roughhousing between Marcus Smart and Bradley Beal for which Beal was hit with a technical foul, Wall told reporters it was nothing more than trash talking after a hotly-contested game.
"Just some altercation. We knew there was going to be some trash-talking," Wall said, per ESPN. "We knew it was going to be a physical game. That's all it was: Just a little trash-talking and a physical game."
After being separated by coaches and players, some had to be ushered into their respective locker rooms and five Boston police officers stood guard between those areas, which are close in proximity.
For his part, Crowder refused to discuss what may have caused the flare up.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I ain't got no comment about that," he said. "You want to talk about the game? Anyone want to talk about the game?"
The Celtics (24-15) beat the Wizards (19-19), 117-108.
