Scotty Pippen Jr. Went After Myron Gardner Following A Dirty Play And Fighting In The NBA Has Never Been More Back
Tomas Diniz Santos. Getty Images.For whatever reason, fighting is #BACK in the NBA. You hear all the time about how people wish the game would go back to the glory days of the 90s where players were actually physical and we got fights all the time. I wouldn't say the physicality in today's NBA is the same, but I will say players in 2026 apparently love to scrap.
To name a few, you may remember the Mark Williams vs Jose Alvarado dust up
which wasn't a bad way to get us started. You saw actual punches and real action.
That fight was then followed by the massive Hornets/Pistons brawl earlier this month
that ended in multiple players being suspended for multiple games. It wasn't quite Malice At The Palace, but it was about as good a brawl as you're going to see on a basketball court.
Give these guys credit, we've actually had some legit fights with real punches being thrown. These aren't your average "HOLD ME BACK" NBA fights. Guys are really going at it. It kind of makes you nostalgic for the old days, doesn't it?
Well, Saturday night gave us our next NBA fight, this time between the Grizzlies and Heat via Scotty Pippen Jr. and Myron Gardner
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Upon review, I'm on Scottie Pippen Jr's side. You can't run up on someone like that, that's how someone can get hurt. A very obvious dirty play by Myron Gardner. It sort of reminded me of the Morris/Jokic play from a few years ago when Jokic did something similar
so I get why Pippen Jr was pissed in that moment. Markieff Morris missed around 4+ months after that play back in 2021, you just never know. That was a fucked up move by Myron Gardner that was completely avoidable.
You knew that as soon as Scottie Pippen got up and started running backdown the floor, that it was go time. He wasted no time and left no doubt. He found Gardner right in the corner, and it was on. My question is, what the hell were the refs looking at when Gardner made that play on the other end? How do you not call a foul there? They're partially responsible for everything that followed, if you ask me. That's about as obvious a foul as you're ever going to see. He came out of nowhere and just ran into another player from behind? Call me crazy, but that's a Day 1 foul call.
While I wouldn't say this was quite the Pistons/Hornets brawl, it was still a pretty decent fight by NBA standards. It's not like Pippen Jr talked shit while being held back. The fact that it bled into the crowd a little bit there is something the league office probably won't love, but sometimes you have to stick up for yourself and accept whatever suspension may be coming your way. The Grizzlies season has been over for a while now anyway, so what difference does it make if you have to miss a few.
So hey, if you're someone who wanted more fighting back in the NBA, this season is delivering. Is it the level we saw in the 90s? We're getting there