The Charlotte Hornets season has officially ended as Buzz City fell to the Atlanta Hawks in the 9-10 matchup of the play-in tournament. As the Hornets lose, the Hawks qualify further to face the Cleveland Cavaliers for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
One Hornets player seemed a little more aggravated by the entire situation than others. Miles Bridges was ejected with about 6 minutes in the fourth quarter left. However, Bridges didn’t appreciate the ejection and blew a gasket on his way back to the locker room. In the process, Bridges took out his mouthpiece and threw it at a heckling fan.
The corny fan continues to mock Bridges until he realizes what just happened and then starts gesturing toward the stewards. Bridges then walked away, but the likelihood of retroactive action from the NBA is there.
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 14, 2022
While it is hard to regulate fan behavior with players and vice versa, this wasn’t acceptable from either end. The fan was over his barrier and going out of his way to mock Bridges, who was ejected from an elimination game away from home. Tempers were running high anyway. The issue is how the fan pretends like he had done nothing wrong and Miles just lashed onto him out of nowhere.
This might have been Bridges’ last game for Charlotte, as he is a free agent this summer and in line for a sizeable contract extension. However, there have been rumors linking Bridges away from the Hornets despite his development over the last two years.
Bridges has apologized for the incident on Twitter but we will have to wait and see whether the NBA takes any action against the fan or Bridges. The Hornets will go into the off-season now and hopefully secure the future of their young players and continue to build on this success next season.
