In the midst of Tuesday night's punch exchange between Serge Ibaka and Robin Lopez, Spanish international Nikola Mirotic tried to get a hold of a frenzied Ibaka in attempts to calm him down.
Mirotic was met by Toronto Raptors assistant and former All-Star Jamaal Magloire, who shoved him out of the way as Niko tried to approach his FIBA teammate.
“He was trying to be a strong man,” Mirotic told Joseph Casciaro of The Score after the game. “He was trying to push me. I pushed him off. I told him ‘don't touch me.'”
“I tried to separate Ibaka, because I know him. I went to Ibaka, trying to separate him, because it's not necessary to fight. It's just a game. I understand there is some frustration in the moment — this was a very emotional game — but why did this guy come into the game and try to push me, talk to me, and talk s*** about me? It's crazy, man. It's disrespectful. You never expect that from a coach.”
This comes on the heels of the Lakers-Bucks skirmish, which drew ire from head coach Luke Walton, enraged after a Milwaukee assistant coach put his hands on rookie Brandon Ingram.
Mirotic and Magloire exchanged a few words, but Raptors head coach Dwane Casey didn't see anything troubling brewing, claiming his assistant was just doing his job of de-escalating the situation.
“I thought he was just making peace,” Casey said. “Their coaches were grabbing our players, everyone trying to break (it up), he and Mirotic had words or whatever, but the coaches are out there as peacemakers, I do know that. Their coaches were grabbing our guys, I was making sure – everybody was making sure – that their players were back, and separated, and nobody was getting hurt.”
The Chicago Bulls forward was surprised by Magloire's behavior, claiming he wasn't expecting to be pushed by a coach from the opposite team.
“You never expect an assistant coach is going to push you,” Mirotic said. “That's the first time I've seen that. That's maybe something new. Hopefully he's going to get fined for that, so he can learn.”
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