Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens and forward Gordon Hayward chimed in on the drink-throwing incident on Wednesday's game against the San Antonio Spurs, echoing each other's sentiments that something like that should never happen again.
Per Jay King of The Athletic, Hayward said that such behavior is not acceptable no matter what's happening on the court.
“Certainly, no matter what happens on the court, you can’t have anybody throwing stuff from the fans. That’s not what it should be. So I definitely don’t appreciate that. And I love our fans,” Hayward said.
Stevens, for his part, apologized to Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. After all, the drink landed near the Spurs' bench, which could have been disastrous had it hit a player. He also hoped that the fan will be banned from attending Celtics games at the TD Garden.
Brad Stevens just said he apologized to the Spurs, told Pop he was really sorry he had to experience a fan throwing a drink onto the court. Stevens said he hopes that fan isn’t allowed into any more games.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) January 9, 2020
According to reports, the culprit was immediately identified and arrested.
Celtics say one fan was immediately identified for throwing the bottle on the court and arrested
— John Karalis 🇬🇷 🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) January 9, 2020
Below is the clip of the incident. Right after Kemba Walker was ejected, fans at the TD Garden jeered at the referees. After all, it was a questionable call since the Celtics guard didn't appear to be extra aggressive towards the officials. At the height of the tension, a drink came flying out of the stands and landed in front of the Spurs bench.
A fan threw a drink on the court after Kemba got ejected 🍺 pic.twitter.com/ACPQPLNVwK
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 9, 2020
From inside the basketball court to the stands, things definitely got chippy in Wednesday's game between the Celtics and Spurs. Fortunately, things didn't get absolutely out of hand.