The NBA cycles through several minor rivalries between players throughout the season. Some stars can’t help but jaw with each other when they’re on the court, and certain role players can get under the skin of their opponents quite easily, think Pat Beverley and Russell Westbrook. However, it very rarely descends into threats of fighting after the game, but it did on the final day of this regular season.
The Denver Nuggets played the Los Angeles Lakers in a closely-contested game that went all the way to OT before the Lakers won. But there was a flashpoint during the game, with guard Facundo Campazzo getting ejected for a push on Wayne Ellington, something that was a complete non-basketball play.
Facundo Campazzo's outburst after not calling a foul on him 😳😳😳
The Argentinian was ejected.
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Campazzo went up for a layup and felt he was fouled hard, but he didn’t get the call he wanted. There was a rush of blood to the head, as Facu came back steaming onto the court and pushed Wayne Ellington hard, even though Ellington wasn’t even the player that had fouled him.
Ellington was dazed, and after he had some time to settle down, he was quite angry. Taking to Twitter to express his displeasure at the way Campazzo had handled the situation, Ellington straight-up threatened Facu, telling him that he would be ready to fight the next time he saw the Nuggets man.
https://twitter.com/WayneEllington/status/1513394328185589761
“When I see you, I’m putting my hands on you.”
Campazzo isn’t the first Nuggets player to push someone hard in the back this season, with Jokic’s similar move on Markieff Morris causing him to miss significant time this season. At least the Joker got the guy he thought made a dirty play on him, Campazzo’s push on Ellington is simply hard to understand in any context. Whether Wayne cools down or not with time remains to be seen, but there will likely be fireworks the next time these two players share a court together, whenever that may be.
