Andrew Nembhard

Ryan Nembhard Agrees To Two-Way Contract With Mavs

June 26th, 2025 at 10:28pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Ryan Nembhard, who led Division I in assists last season, has agreed to a two-way contract with the Mavericks, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets.

Nembhard, the younger brother of the Pacers’ Andrew Nembhard, logged 134 starts in college. He played two seasons with Creighton before transferring to Gonzaga, where he played two more years.

Nembhard averaged 10.5 points on 44.6 shooting, including 40.4 percent from long range, as a senior but he mainly concentrated on being a distributor. He averaged 9.8 assists and was also a factor on the defensive end with 1.7 steals. The 6-foot Nembhard reached double digits in assists 19 times last season, including 11 in his final college game — a loss to Houston in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Nembhard is one of two undrafted rookies to reach an agreement on a two-way deal in the immediate wake of the draft, joining Auburn’s Miles Kelly.

NBA Finals Notes: Game 6, Daigneault, SGA, Haliburton

June 19th, 2025 at 10:02am CST by Arthur Hill

With a chance to capture their first title since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City, Thunder players are focused on the process of winning Game 6 rather than its historical implications, writes Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Heavy favorites when the series began, OKC has a chance to celebrate tonight on the Pacers‘ home court.

“We want to win the game tomorrow, but the most important thing we need to do to win the game tomorrow is prepare today and prepare tomorrow and play the first possession really well, then the next possession, then the next possession,” coach Mark Daigneault told reporters on Wednesday. “That’s how we try to approach a game, how we try to approach the playoff series, how we try to approach every single day and let that win the day.”

The Thunder have largely controlled the series after letting Game 1 slip away due to a miraculous Indiana comeback. They won handily in Game 2, staged a rally of their own in Game 4, then took their first lead of the series in Game 5. MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is encouraging his teammates to take their normal approach to tonight’s game and not get distracted by thoughts of a victory celebration.

“The cusp of winning is not winning,” he said. “The way I see it, winning is all that matters. It hasn’t been fulfilled. We haven’t done anything.”

There’s more on the Finals:

Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton is considered to be a game-time decision, but ESPN’s Brian Windhorst expects him to play. Appearing this morning on Get Up (YouTube link), Windhorst noted that Indiana’s medical staff already had the results of Haliburton’s MRI from Tuesday when the team listed him as questionable. He believes the Pacers are “setting the stage” for Haliburton to be active, but it’s uncertain if the right calf strain is too severe for him to be effective.
An ESPN panel doesn’t give the Pacers much chance of extending the series if Haliburton can’t live up to his normal standards. While most of the group expects the Finals to end tonight, Jamal Collier observes that Indiana’s role players have performed better at home, while Zach Kram points to Andrew Nembhard as someone who could swing the series if he can find a way to score like he did earlier in the playoffs.
With the Finals nearing their conclusion, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic examines why the games often seem less important than they used to. He cites a number of factors, including a “humdrum” presentation and the league-wide focus on the transactions cycle, and suggests that things may change when NBC resumes its coverage of the NBA this fall.

NBA Finals Notes: Court Design, Nembhard, SGA, Game 2

June 7th, 2025 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Responding to online complaints about the plain nature of the court for Game 1 of the NBA Finals, commissioner Adam Silver said the league office will have discussions this summer about bringing back the Larry O’Brien Trophy logo, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic. The Paycom Center floor on Thursday was indistinguishable from a regular season game, lacking the trophy and the distinctive NBA Finals logo that used to be a tradition.

Amick explains that the league stopped using the trophy logo in 2014 in response to complaints about “slipperiness” on the courts. The Cavaliers had a small version of the trophy in the corner of their home court in 2017, and a much larger logo with a YouTube sponsorship was featured on the court during the 2020 Finals at the bubble in Orlando.

Silver is sympathetic toward fans who want the court for the league’s biggest event to have a special look.

“Maybe there’s a way around it,” he said. “To be honest, I hadn’t thought all that much about it until I (saw) it (on social media). I’m nostalgic, as well, for certain things. And also, I think for a media-driven culture, whether it’s people watching live or seeing those images on social media, it’s nice when you’re looking back on highlights and they stand out because you see that trophy logo or some other indication that it’s a special event. So, we’ll look at it.”

There’s more on the NBA Finals as the series gets set to resume Sunday night:

Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard has a long-running friendship and rivalry with Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, per Tim Reyonolds of the Associated Press. They grew up playing basketball together, and they’re both members of Canada’s national team. Nembhard was SGA’s primary defender in Game 1, and even though the reigning MVP finished with 38 points, he admits that he had to work hard for them. “He’s a competitor. He’s a winner,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of Nembhard. “Plays the game the right way on both ends of the floor. Really good player. Yeah, he’s a winner for sure. No doubt.”
The Thunder have been exceptional after losses throughout the regular season and playoffs, so the Pacers will have a huge challenge in Game 2, Reynolds adds in a separate story. Oklahoma City has a 17-2 record in the next game coming off a defeat with an average margin of victory of 17.5 points. “You don’t want to be reactive to the last game because then you can be too high after wins, you can be too low after losses,” OKC coach Mark Daigneault said. “We just get ourselves to neutral. Understand every game is different, every game is unwritten. You go out there, the ball goes up in the air, and the team that competes better on that night wins.”
John Hollinger of The Athletic analyzes several key plays from the series opener to understand how Indiana was able to erase a 15-point fourth quarter deficit.

NBA Finals Notes: Game 1, Haliburton, Carlisle, Nembhard, Presentation

June 6th, 2025 at 10:14am CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers continue to defy the odds in these NBA playoffs, pulling off an improbable fourth-quarter comeback for a fourth consecutive series and a second straight Game 1. Indiana didn’t hold a lead on Thursday in Oklahoma City until Tyrese Haliburton made a jumper that put the team up 111-110 with 0.3 seconds left on the game clock. It was the fourth time during the 2025 postseason that Haliburton has converted a game-winning or game-tying shot with less than five seconds remaining, notes Jamal Collier of ESPN.

“I don’t know what you say about it, but I know that this group is a resilient group,” Haliburton said. “And we don’t give up until it’s 0.0 on the clock.”

The Pacers turned the ball over 24 times and attempted just 82 field goals and 21 free throws on the night, compared to six turnovers, 98 field goal attempts, and 24 free throws for the Thunder. But a strong shooting performance that included a 46.2% mark from beyond the arc (18-of-39) kept Indiana within striking distance.

Haliburton didn’t play a major part in the Pacers’ three-point success, scoring just 14 points and knocking down 2-of-7 shots from long range. However, his teammates had full trust in their point guard when he raced up the court with the ball in his hands during that final possession.

“I swear as soon as he jumped up to shoot, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s good,'” Pacers wing Aaron Nesmith said, according to Collier. “Every time it’s in his hands in those situations, I just think it’s good.”

“(He has) ultimate, ultimate confidence in himself,” center Myles Turner added, per Grant Afseth of Hardwood Heroics. “Some players will say they have it but there’s other players that show it, and he’s going to let you know about it, too. That’s one of the things I respect about him. He’s a baller and a hooper and really just a gamer. When it comes to the moments, he wants the ball. He wants to be the one to hit that shot. He doesn’t shy away from the moment, and it is very important this time of the year to have a go-to guy. He just keeps finding a way, and we keep putting the ball in the right positions, and the rest is history.”

Here’s more on the NBA Finals in the wake of a thrilling first game:

Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle, who has spent 23 seasons as an NBA coach and won a title in 2011 in Dallas, said on Thursday that he has a special appreciation for this Pacers team, as Afseth relays. “It’s a group I love,” Carlisle said. “It’s a group that we’ve invested a lot in — in how we were going to draft, who we were going to draft, and development. From a coaching perspective, I’m proud of this year because not only did we win enough games to get into the top four, but we are still developing players.”
The Game 1 loss was similar to the Thunder’s other home loss during these playoffs, when they let a 13-point fourth quarter lead slip away in Game 3 of the conference semifinals vs. Denver, notes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. The Thunder came back in that series after falling behind 2-1 as a result of that home loss, so while they were disappointed by Thursday’s outcome, they’re confident in their ability to bounce back. “It sucks, but we have been here before,” Jalen Williams said, while head coach Mark Daigneault added, “We would’ve liked to win tonight, but tonight was a starting point, not an end point.” As MacMahon writes, Oklahoma City is 4-0 after losses during these playoffs, with an average margin of victory of 20.5 points per game.
With Isaiah Hartenstein removed from the starting lineup and limited to just 17 minutes of action, the Thunder were out-rebounded 56-39 by one of the league’s worst rebounding teams. “Some of it is the cost of doing business,” Daigneault said of sticking with a smaller lineup, per Kelly Iko of The Athletic. “To be able to get perimeter speed on the court, get more switching in the game. It’s obviously something that is a tradeoff. I thought the small lineup at the end of the first half looked pretty good. That’s why I went back to it down the stretch. When we’re small, we have to be pressure-oriented and contain the ball. I thought they got some cracks against us that hurt us a little bit more than the post-ups did.”
While Haliburton was the Game 1 hero, Andrew Nembhard deserves a lot of credit for helping the Pacers stay in the game and complete their comeback, according to David Aldridge of The Athletic. In addition to hitting a big three-pointer in the game’s final minutes, Nembhard served as the primary defender on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 38 points but needed 30 shots to do it. “If there wasn’t the 65-game rule, he’s an All-Defensive guy, plain and simple,” Haliburton said of Nembhard. “We have the most trust in him. Shai is the hardest guard in the NBA. He’s the hardest guy to cover one-on-one in the NBA. So there’s no one look we can give him that is going to work every time. We trust Drew in those situations.”
Amid myriad complaints on social media that Game 1 of the NBA Finals felt like just another regular season contest, Dan Shanoff of The Athletic offers three suggestions that the NBA and ABC could make for the rest of the series to improve the presentation, including putting the Finals logo on the court and showing the in-arena starting lineup introductions on the TV broadcast.

Pacers Notes: Nesmith, Haliburton, Canadians

June 5th, 2025 at 11:05am CST by Luke Adams

Aaron Nesmith didn’t miss any games after spraining his right ankle in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals vs. New York, but playing through the injury wasn’t easy, according to the Pacers wing, who was limited to 16 minutes in Game 5 and just under 20 in Game 6, his two lowest totals of the postseason (he also had some foul trouble in Game 6).

“It took a lot (to return for Game 4),” Nesmith said on Wednesday, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. “It was pretty much rehab every minute of that day. It was cold tub, game-ready, hyperbaric chambers, it was red light therapy. It was manual wave, it was shock wave. Anything you could name we kinda threw it at the ankle, but there was no chance I was missing that game.”

Although the Pacers haven’t had as much rest between the conference finals and the start of the NBA Finals as the Thunder, Indiana still had four full days off prior to Thursday’s Game 1. Few Pacers appreciated those off-days more than Nesmith.

“I needed ’em,” he said. “I was looking forward to these days off. I took ’em, and I’ll be ready.”

Here’s more on the Pacers:

Given the challenges the NBA has faced over the years trying to find a way to stop teams from tanking, the league should be rejoicing that Indiana has made it to this year’s NBA Finals, writes Jason Lloyd of The Athletic. As Lloyd details, team owner Herb Simon has long had an aversion to tanking, so the Pacers have never really done it — the club was stuck in the middle at times, but has won fewer than 32 games in a season just once in the past 35 years.
Following an on-court altercation with Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo at the end of the Pacers’ first-round series win, Tyrese Haliburton‘s father John Haliburton was effectively banned from attending games. However, that ban was lifted for Pacers home games midway through the Eastern Conference Finals as long as the elder Haliburton watched from a suite. For the NBA Finals, he won’t be prohibited from attending games at either arena, Dopirak writes for The Indianapolis Star. “I think the commentary around my dad got a little ridiculous,” Tyrese said. “Of course, I’m going to say that. I’m his son. It got a little over the top. He was wrong. That is what it is. I don’t think any of us want to be defined by our worst moments. That’s just sports media. Sometimes we just take a super good thing or a super bad thing and overblow it. It is what it is. He’s learned from it. It won’t happen again. Love my pops dearly. Really thankful he’s going to be in the building along with me on this journey.”
Both teams competing in the NBA Finals have multiple Canadians on their rosters, with Andrew Nembhard and Bennedict Mathurin representing the Pacers and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort competing for the Thunder. Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca takes a look at the shared history among those players, three of whom represented Canada in last year’s Olympics, while Julian McKenzie of The Athletic specifically examines the bond between Montreal natives Mathurin and Dort, who grew up minutes from one another and each describes the other as being like “a brother.”

Pacers Notes: Pierce, Haliburton, Flight, Defending SGA, Underdog Role

June 4th, 2025 at 3:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Lloyd Pierce had a rough two-and-a-half seasons as a head coach with the Hawks from 2018-21. Pierce, now one of Rick Carlisle‘s top assistants with the Pacers, is hoping for another shot at being an NBA head coach, he told Marc J. Spears of Andscape.

“I took a head coaching job and I learned a lot,” Pierce said. “I want to be able to prove to myself. More than anything, I want to propel an organization to where we are right now, the NBA Finals.

“Every competitor struggles with the day they were let go. And so, everything you do moving forward is first self-awareness, and then second it’s do what you need to do to get back in that seat and prove everybody wrong, and more importantly prove it to yourself. And I’m definitely more about proving myself, and so I’m not stressing over it. But I definitely feel like I deserve an opportunity to get back in that seat again.”

We have more on the Pacers:

Considering the team’s slow start, the Pacers made an unexpected rise to the top of the Eastern Conference. Star guard Tyrese Haliburton plans to savor his first taste of the NBA Finals, Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star writes. “This is a really exciting time for me personally to have this opportunity,” Haliburton said. “This is something I’ve wanted to do my whole life. Last year, having playoff success in my first playoff run and being unsuccessful to start the season, for me I thought a lot about, wow, maybe I took last year for granted. I didn’t know what the playoffs were going to look like as the year was going on. I didn’t know if we’d be a play-in team or where we’d stack up in the end with how we were playing early in the year. I’m definitely not taking this for granted. Learning to appreciate every day and remember all these days as best as I can.”
The Pacers’ flight to Oklahoma City on Tuesday took an unexpected turn. The team’s charter flight was first diverted to Tulsa due to severe weather in Oklahoma. Then, after refueling there, the plane was re-routed around another band of weather before finally landing in Oklahoma City about three-and-a-half hours behind schedule, according to The Associated Press.
How will they defend Thunder star guard and Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? Rylan Stiles of Sports Illustrated tackles that topic, speculating that Andrew Nembhard will likely serve as the point-of-attack defender. Stiles also anticipates the Pacers will attempt to clog the driving lanes as SGA works to get to his spots at the elbow, the baseline and the rim.
The Pacers are heavy underdogs to win the championship and they’re comfortable in that role, Dopirak writes. “We’ve all been doubted at some point in time of our lives,” Carlisle said. “You look in the mirror, you gotta face the doubts and you decide, how are you going to go forward? Are you going to fight through and find a way or are you going to find an excuse. Our team is a bunch of guys who have found a way in a lot of different situations.”

Central Notes: Haliburton, Nembhard, Cavs, Pistons, Bulls

May 7th, 2025 at 1:40pm CST by Luke Adams

One week after ending the Bucks’ season with a series-winning shot in the final seconds of Game 5, Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton played the hero again on Tuesday vs. Cleveland. Haliburton’s three-pointer with 1.1 seconds left on the clock completed an improbable comeback for the Pacers, who were down by seven points with 50 seconds to play and now have a 2-0 series lead as they head back home.

“He enjoys the moments,” teammate Myles Turner said, per Jamal Collier of ESPN. “He wants the ball in his hands. There’s a lot of guys I’ve seen, even guys I’ve played with, that doesn’t necessarily want to take that shot or doesn’t necessarily want to be in the mix right there, but he relishes in those moments. It’s just a testament as to his work ethic, his mental toughness, his mentality. Quite frankly — that boy cold, man.”

As Jared Weiss of The Athletic writes, Haliburton has always taken pride in his mental toughness and has made a habit of reading his mentions on social media when he’s not playing well, using criticism from online trolls as fuel to start playing better. However, the Pacers star recently admitted that he hit a low point last fall when he was dwelling on a slow start to the 2024/25 season that included a scoreless outing vs. New York.

“I (was) struggling to look at myself in the mirror. I’m struggling to show up to work and get to the gym. I’m trying to avoid coming to work,” said Haliburton, adding that he stopped seeking out the online criticism that typically motivated him. “… I didn’t want to tackle things head-on. I didn’t want to look at myself in the mirror. I was just trying to almost run from the spotlight. I’ve always been a guy who pushed into that, and I love being in that, so it was a weird feeling. I’ve never felt that insecurity before, and that was a reality check for me.”

According to Haliburton, who told Weiss he has gone to therapy for the last couple years, a candid conversation with trainer Drew Hanlen helped get him back on the right track and he started feeling more like himself after putting up 35 points and 14 assists in a revenge game vs. the Knicks a few weeks into the season.

Haliburton added that good conversations and strong relationships with fellow NBA stars like Joel Embiid and Jayson Tatum have helped keep him in the right headspace and ensured he was unfazed when he was voted the NBA’s most overrated player last month in a player poll conducted by The Athletic.

“At some point, worrying about what my peers think only holds so much weight. I think my peers (whom) I really respect, that changes things,” Haliburton said. “For that poll, there’s no names to faces, it’s all anonymous. Having relationships with guys like Jayson and Joel, who are guys that I know at the top of the game, them being honest with me, that’s important. I respect their opinions more than anybody.”

Here’s more from around the Central:

While Haliburton has been the engine driving the Pacers‘ playoff success so far, his backcourt partner Andrew Nembhard has been showing why he shouldn’t be overlooked, according to Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (subscription required) and Joe Vardon of The Athletic. A strong perimeter defender, Nembhard has been giving Indiana a major offensive boost as well, scoring 23 points in Game 1 vs. Cleveland and handing out 13 assists in Game 2. The team is a +31 in his 73 minutes for the series so far.
Already missing three key players (Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and De’Andre Hunter) due to injuries on Tuesday, the Cavaliers were also getting a “banged-up” version of star guard Donovan Mitchell, who is playing through a calf strain, as Vardon writes for The Athletic. Mitchell nearly led Cleveland to a victory anyway, with 48 points and nine assists in 36 minutes, but he and the Cavs’ other regulars ran out of gas and blew a late lead in the game’s final moments. “I loved how we competed,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said after the loss, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required). “We played our basketball, our identity. I thought we outplayed them. That’s the shame of this game. With fatigue comes decision-making. We had some poor decision-making plays at the rim, turnovers, a couple bad decisions. That was part of the collapse.”
Discussing the draft, Pistons general manager Trajan Langdon suggested the pool of available talent isn’t as deep as it might otherwise be due to the NIL benefits that have made college prospects more inclined to stay in school. Armed with only the No. 37 overall pick this year, Langdon suggested the team will consider trading up if there’s “a player we really like” and the cost isn’t prohibitive (Twitter links via Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press).
Arguing that it’s time for the Bulls to begin “hunting for big trades,” Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune (subscription required) evaluates whether or not the team could realistically make a play for Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo if he becomes available. Poe concludes that Chicago is a long shot for Antetokounmpo, but says the team could and should be ready to explore pursuing other stars who reach the trade block.

Pacers Notes: Mathurin, Walker, Nembhard, Game 1 Strategy

April 19th, 2025 at 8:38pm CST by Arthur Hill

Bennedict Mathurin had to watch from the bench during the Pacers’ run to the Eastern Conference Finals last spring because of a torn labrum in his right shoulder, writes Kyle Neddenriep of The Indianapolis Star. The third-year swingman said the experience gave him a sense of what to expect as he made his playoff debut Saturday afternoon against Milwaukee.

“I’m really, really grateful to be able to play this year,” Mathurin said. “Last year, I couldn’t. And I’m still super young, so it’s a blessing to be able to have this opportunity in the playoffs at this young age. But I feel like it was a great opportunity for me to go out there and learn.”

Mathurin delivered 13 points and five rebounds in 25 minutes as Indiana handily defeated the Bucks in the series opener. He hit all eight of his free throws, but was only 2-of-7 from the field and 1-of-6 from three-point range as Neddenriep notes that a late-season shooting slump seems to be continuing. Mathurin offered a mixed evaluation of his performance.

“I have a lot of expectations on myself,” he said. “I think I was pretty good defensively. Like I said, the playoffs is just a different atmosphere. And just remembering all the moments of last year, not being able to play, and just going out there and playing hard defense as much as I can, I’m willing to do it to win.”

There’s more from Indiana:

Jarace Walker got into nine playoff games last season, but was limited mainly to garbage time, Neddenriep adds in the same piece. He had a more prominent role in Game 1, contributing three points, five rebounds and a block in 17 minutes on Saturday. “It was so much fun,” Walker said. “I had a great time, just soaking in the moment. I’ll give the team whatever they need, whether it’s shot making, defending, rebounding. I feel like I’m a versatile player who can impact the game in multiple ways. Whatever is needed, I’ll get it done.”
Andrew Nembhard set the tone for the Pacers by consistently challenging Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez, driving to the basket on offense and double teaming them on defense, per Gregg Doyel of The Indianapolis Star. Nembhard’s fearlessness will be needed in what’s expected to be an extremely physical series, Doyel adds.
The Pacers’ strategy on Antetokounmpo was successful in Game 1 as he scored 36 points but only had one assist, observes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. Myles Turner called the defensive effort “decent,” but said there was too much fouling and too many mistimed double teams. Dopirak points out that the approach might not work as well once Damian Lillard returns, which is expected to happen in Game 2 or 3.

NBA Fines Trendon Watford, Myles Turner, Andrew Nembhard

March 21st, 2025 at 10:03pm CST by Luke Adams

Nets forward Trendon Watford, Pacers center Myles Turner, and Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard were each fined by the NBA on Friday night for their roles in a Thursday altercation, according to a press release from the league (Twitter link).

Watford and Turner were hit with fines of $35K apiece, while Nembhard received a $20K penalty.

As we detailed earlier today, the altercation began as Bennedict Mathurin was driving to Brooklyn’s basket for a layup during the fourth quarter of Indiana’s victory. Watford and Nembhard engaged in a little pushing and shoving away from the play before Turner entered the fray and shoved Watford (YouTube link via ESPN). Both teams got involved at that point, with coaches and officials eventually separating the two sides.

Nembhard and Watford received double technical fouls for their exchange, as did Turner and Watford for theirs. As a result of being hit with two technicals, Watford was automatically ejected from the game.

According to the NBA, Nembhard and Watford were both responsible for initiating the skirmish, but Watford escalated it when he “delivered a right forearm to (Nembhard’s) chest region.” Turner was also considered to have escalated matters by shoving Watford.

Relative to their full-season salaries, the fines are more significant for Watford, who is earning $2.73MM, and Nembhard ($2.02MM) than they are for Turner, whose cap hit this season is $19.93MM.

Nets’ Watford Ejected Following Scuffle With Pacers

March 21st, 2025 at 11:10am CST by Rory Maher

Nets forward Trendon Watford was ejected in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s overtime loss to Indiana following a brief scuffle with Pacers players Andrew Nembhard and Myles Turner, as The Associated Press relays.

Prior to a driving basket by Bennedict Mathurin, Watford pushed Nembhard with one arm, then the two shoulder shoved each other with one arm apiece after the field goal (YouTube link via ESPN). Turner quickly entered the fray and shoved Watford, who responded by pushing back. Both teams entered the scuffle at that point, with coaches and officials eventually separating the two sides.

The video only shows the play and its aftermath, so it’s unclear who initially instigated the incident.

Nembhard and Watford received double technical fouls for their exchange, as did Turner and Watford for theirs. Watford was automatically ejected after being hit with two technicals.

For his part, Turner largely downplayed the incident after the game, saying he was just standing up for his teammate Nembhard, who is considerably smaller than Watford.

“We’re preparing for the playoffs,” Turner said. “You’re going to have moments like that in the playoffs. So to be battle tested, let it not be a surprise and be able to control your emotions when everything’s high – that’s an underrated thing in this league.”

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