It ain’t no fun when the rabbit got the gun
Friday night’s game between the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons was among the most important of the season—for both teams. A win for the Bucks would guarantee them fifth place, while a win for the Pistons kept their chances of overtaking the Bucks alive when the two teams play again on Sunday. Accordingly, there was sure to be some emotion involved.
Late in the game was an extended verbal altercation between Malik Beasley and Giannis Antetokounmpo centred around Antetokounmpo mimicking Beasley’s signature shimmy celebration after he blocked Malik’s shot. Some might label Beasley taking issue with that as hypocritical.
With the Bucks leading by five and 10.5 seconds on the clock, Pistons coach JB Bickerstaff took a timeout to draw up a play for a quick three. Bickerstaff had Cade Cunningham inbound the ball with the intent to hit Malik Beasley cutting along the baseline for a corner three. AJ Green, who had been guarding Beasley, called for Giannis to switch onto Malik after Tobias Harris laid a solid screen on Green. Antetokounmpo did so, contesting Beasley’s shot with his Go-Go Gadget arms and blocking it into the stands.
Following the play, Giannis did Beasley’s shimmy as he stood over him—with a smile, I might add—and then offered his hand to help Malik up. It appeared to be Innocuous humour by a former teammate. But Malik wasn’t having it, refusing even to acknowledge Giannis and slapping away his attempts at a handshake. For those who didn’t see the exchange, here it is:
Credit: Chaz NBA
Postgame, Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press reported that Beasley acknowledged his relationship with the two-time MVP, but that the shimmy crossed a line for him:
“Don’t disrespect me. He’s my brother but I don’t take the disrespect.”
Note: we don’t know their relationship, and ultimately only they know whether it was appropriate in the context of their relationship. I’ll admit that I also didn’t love Giannis’ joking shimmy towards Beasley. Granted, I also happen to be a massive worry pot and would prefer every Bucks player just got to the end of the game with no transgressions and in one piece. But another side of me found it a tad ironic that Beasley—who has been taunting opposing teams for years now with this exact celebration—was upset over a former teammate jokingly giving him some of his own medicine (with said teammate then attempting to apologise for doing so!).
I mean, Malik does this dance in front of opposing teams’ benches multiple times per game! Do those teams feel disrespected by that? I certainly assume not. They probably just say, “that’s basketball” and move on because it’s not that serious. Malik’s entire Instagram account is filled with videos of him shimmying on everyone else, which, to be clear, I think is cool! Did the Wizards feel disrespected when he did it right in front of their bench, staying put for an extra few seconds to rub it in?
Ironically, you can see Khris laughing in the above clip because, again, this stiff isn’t that serious. Nonetheless, even if we all agree that celebrations (and taunting, to a degree) are a part of basketball, Beasley wouldn’t dare do something in a game that is actually disrespectful, right? Not like, hypothetically, if one were to shout “hell nah!” multiple times at the top of their lungs while a rookie on the other team shot a three?
And, of course, what goes around comes around. The Minnesota players had a go at Malik’s shimmy on the bench after beating the Pistons by a cool 19 points in that very game. At the end of the day, if you give it, you must be willing to take it. It’s good gamesmanship from all parties. As we Australians say, “play on.”
Credit: House of Highlights
Looking back at what Antetokounmpo did, my only wish is that he hadn’t continued to pursue Beasley once it was clear he didn’t want a bar of him. Just take the W and keep it pushin’. The only reason Giannis was even apologising in the first place is because he meant the shimmy as a trivial thing and he could tell Malik, for whatever reason, didn’t see it that way—and that’s just who Giannis is. But of course, the former Buck wasn’t having it because, evidently, his celebrations are only acceptable when he’s doing them.
UPDATE: Beasley took to Twitter this morning to defend himself, and… well, he looks even worse doubling down.
