By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.nhet
With Millsap leading the Hawks with 29 points, a game-high 14 rebounds and five assists as Atlanta dismantled Washington 116-98 to trim the Wizards‘ lead to 2-1, Morris was ready to hit back.
“Me, as a man, you take your wins with your losses. I take my wins with my losses all the time,” said Morris, who finished with nine points on 4-of-14 shooting. “He just did more for his team. He’s a crybaby. You get all the calls when you’re a crybaby. That’s how I look at it.”
Millsap was informed in the media room that Morris called him a crybaby and asked if he felt the matchup had become personal. Teammate Dennis Schroder, who was seated beside Millsap, groaned when he heard Morris’ comment, put his head in his hand and mumbled, “Oh my gosh, no. Oh, Paul.”
Wizards‘ Markieff Morris called Hawks‘ Paul Millsap a “crybaby” after Game 3. Millsap and Dennis Schroder with the priceless reaction… pic.twitter.com/VyxUGpbO4U
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 23, 2017
Millsap laughed before replying, “It definitely got personal now, yes. I don’t care, so what. Take his loss and go back to the hotel, be ready for the next game.”
After Game 1 Millsap was quoted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as saying, “The difference in the game was we were playing basketball and they were playing MMA. They were physical. When the game is like that we have to match their physicality. But again, we’ve got to go get some moves and bring them back to the court.”
Morris took offense, telling The Washington Post before Game 2, “Just see where he’s at now. I guess if that’s MMA, then what we do next might be double MMA.”