Put it in reverse, Tari!
Tari Eason, the 23-year-old forward on the Houston Rockets, channeled his inner Terry O’Reilly on Tuesday evening by attempting to climb into the stands and correct a heckling fan during a 120-111 loss to the Kings at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento during the NBA Cup contest.
The off-camera incident occurred as Eason was walking back through the tunnel and toward the visiting locker room, according to The Athletic.
The forward wheeled around when he heard a fan yelling at him and responded by shouting obscenities of his own.
Eason also hucked a towel in the fan’s direction, per The Athletic.
Such measures did not quell the fan, as Eason then changed course and attempted to run into the stands.
He hurried up one of the adjacent ramps that connects to the court to the lower concourse, but security officials held him back from reaching his intended destination.
It took two officers to impede Eason’s path and convince the forward to relent.
Emotions were clearly running high for the third-year guard out of LSU, and he wasn’t alone.
Head coach Ime Udoka, who has led the Rockets to a red-hot 15-7 start, was ejected after blowing up at the game’s officials with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
On the previous play, the Rockets’ Alperen Şengün had driven to the rim through a whole lot of contact. Udoka believed the defender’s hacking constituted a foul.
After the whistle, the head coach pursued referee John Goble all across the court, though Goble seemed to have little intention of entertaining the conversation.
Elsewhere on the court, Eason jostled with the Kings’ Malik Monk over who got to hold the basketball during the break in play.
Both Eason and Udoka had to be held back by a smattering of coaches and teammates.
“They’re calling ticky-tack moving screens, and bulls–t like that,” Udoka said after the game. “I told [Goble] ‘Get some f–king glasses, open your eyes’ … Take your sensitivity and emotions out of it and call the game the right way.’”
Back on the court, all that hullabaloo earned Sacramento three technical free throws.
Monk converted all three to extend the Kings’ lead to 15.
Notwithstanding Tuesday’s loss, the Rockets still finished at the top of West Group A and earned their bid to the Western Conference quarterfinals of the NBA Cup.
Houston will take on Golden State on Wednesday with a trip to the semi-finals on the line.
Tipoff is scheduled for 10 p.m. on Thursday.