So the Sixers beat the Bucks on Friday night without James Harden and Tobias Harris. Great win at home.

Giannis shot 4-15 from the free throw line and could not hit the broad side of a barn from the charity stripe. He couldn’t throw the ball into the ocean while standing on a pier. He was a one-man bricken for chicken machine, and that resulted in him going out onto the court to get more free throws up after the game was over, ultimately leading to this:

Even if we had zero context here, we can safely come to the conclusion that this makes Giannis look like a dickhead. Don’t push the ladder out of the way like that. These employees have been at the arena all day long and they’re tired. They just wanna break it down, go home, and then get some rest before coming right back on Saturday to do it all again on the second half of a back-to-back. It’s a bad look for Giannis, a millionaire athlete, to shit all over a bunch of “normal” working people like this.

(EDIT – we’ve got folks saying that the one guy there is a broadcast employee, which actually makes Giannis look worse. this guy was probably just going up there to pull down the camera so that NBCSP could switch it back to the local setup. this does not take very long at all.

There was also video of Montrezl Harrell taking the ball from Giannis during his free throw routine and a whole big story that comes along with it, with various writeups at The Athletic and ESPN.

Here’s what Tim Bontemps wrote:

After Antetokounmpo made seven free throws in a row — part of his routine of making 10 in a row every time he steps onto the court — and had shot his eighth, Harrell took the ball away and wouldn’t give it back. He apparently was upset that Antetokounmpo was preventing him from getting in his own work ahead of Philadelphia playing the second half of a back-to-back against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.

“I’ve never tried to disrespect anyone in any way, shape or form,” Antetokounmpo said once he eventually spoke, more than an hour after the game ended. “I feel like today is just an unfortunate event that took place.”

And Harrell said this on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/MONSTATREZZ/status/1593863933642915841?s=20&t=JYJe8hv-ljkglEQTAExXEg

Giannis says he went and got two more balls, came back out onto the court, and the ladder had been setup (presumably because the workers thought that was it, that the free throw routine was over and they could get to work).

Got all of that?

It seems like both guys were being a little dramatic here, but that’s the NBA for you in 2022. You can form whatever opinion you want about their respective behaviors, but I just keep coming back to the thought that you gotta leave the arena workers alone. These folks work long hours down there and they do short turnarounds and keep things moving at The Wells Fargo Center (and ESPN or TNT if they need to break equipment down and get it back to the truck).

Giannis should do them all a solid. He should get Chic-Fil-A for them.

Wait a minute….