Portland Trail Blazers star point guard Damian Lillard finally reacted to the big-time NBA brawl between the Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, which resulted in two-game suspensions for All-Star centers Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Per Dwight Jaynes in NBC Sports Northwest:
“We’re basketball players, so I don’t think we should be fighting,” he said Friday after practice. “But we’re men at the same time and if somebody does something that you feel violated or disrespected by, I think that’s what It could end up being — some type of tussle or some type of scrap.
“The type of training I do for boxing, the more you’re around it as a sport, the deeper you’re into it and the more you do it yourself, the more you realize how dangerous fighting really is. Especially for grown men.”
“Getting fouled, anything in a basketball game, is not worth any of those consequences,” he said. “Fighting is dangerous. We’re strong, professional athletes. Grown men. I would prefer not to see it at all, but sometimes things happen.”
Lillard references his boxing days, as he uses the sport to train.
Towns and Embiid were embroiled in what was for life in the NBA in 2019 a huge skirmish—throwing punches and fighting through the resistance of teammates to get their hands on each other.
Both were suspended two games while Sixers point-forward Ben Simmons, who restrained Towns with a chokehold, notably, was not suspended. Minnesota responded on Friday expressing disappointment in the league's decision-making and punishments in the aftermath of the conflict.
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