Giannis Antetokounmpo insists he "never tried to disrespect anyone" after pushing over a ladder at Wells Fargo Center following the Milwaukee Bucks' 110-102 defeat to the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.
The Greece-born star scored 25 points on the night, with 14 rebounds and four assists, but struggled from the free-throw line for a second-consecutive game.
Antetokounmpo could only sink four from 15 attempts on Friday, having managed the same amount from 11 in Wednesday's home defeat to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In an attempt to get his form back, Antetokounmpo came back onto the court after the loss to Philadelphia to try and shoot 10 free-throws in a row.
After having the ball taken off him by Montrezl Harrell in a bizarre exchange, he got another ball from the locker room and returned, only to this time see a ladder in his way.
When arena workers refused to move it, Antetokounmpo shoved the ladder away, causing it to skid across the court and fall on its side.
Speaking to reporters later in the night, he explained: "I've never tried to disrespect anyone in any way, shape or form -. I feel like today is just an unfortunate event that took place.
"I went back out there to shoot and there was a ladder in front of me, and I said, 'Can you please move the ladder? And they said, 'No.' I said, 'Can you guys please move the ladder?' They said, 'No.' I was like, 'Guys, I have two more free throws, can you please move the ladder?' And they said, 'No.'
"I know what happened. I think there's cameras all over this court. We can show the whole incident from people coming and getting the ball, people getting in my face. I don't want to get into all those things.
"I don't know if I should apologise because I don't feel like I did anything wrong, except the ladder just fell.
"I feel like it's my right for me to work on my skills after a horrible night at the free throw line. I think anybody in my position that had a night like me would go out and work on his free throws.
"And if they didn't, they don't really care about their game."
Porzingis to miss Celtics' in-season tournament quarter-final due to calf injury
Kristaps Porzingis will be absent as the Boston Celtics aim to seal their place in the last four of the NBA's in-season tournament.
Porzingis has missed the Celtics' last three games after sustaining a calf injury in a defeat to the Orlando Magic on November 24.
And the Latvian, who joined Boston from the Washington Wizards in the off-season, will not recover in time to face the Indiana Pacers on Monday.
Porzingis is averaging 18.9 points, just slightly below his career average (19.6), across his 15 games this season. Tyrese Hailburton, meanwhile, is a doubt for the Pacers.
The winner of Monday's quarter-final will head to Las Vegas for the semi-finals.
Harden hopes for turning point as Clippers overturn 22-point deficit against Warriors
After the Los Angeles Clippers fought back from 22 points down for an improbable win over the Golden State Warriors, James Harden said it must serve as a turning point in their difficult season.
The Clippers were staring at back-to-back losses to their neighbours at 70-48 down in the third quarter, just one day after suffering a 120-114 defeat against the same opponents at Chase Center.
However, the Clippers outscored the Warriors 65-42 the rest of the way, with Paul George sinking a decisive three-pointer in the final 10 seconds as they claimed a 113-112 victory.
The Clippers, who have alternated between defeat and victory in their last six games, are now 9-10 after a troubled start to 2023-24.
Former NBA MVP Harden believes he is now beginning to strike up an understanding with fellow stars George and Kawhi Leonard, and he hopes the Clippers can kick on from here.
"Wow, 22…. we don't want to keep going up and down," Harden said when he was made aware of the size of the Warriors' lead.
"We want to be consistent. I told [George] and [Leonard] before the game, 'let's catch our rhythm'. Let's be good, like we're going to be later in the season. Let's start it now."
George finished with a game-high 25 points, also adding six rebounds and six assists, while Harden and Leonard finished with 21 and 20 points respectively.
"It's big," Leonard said of the win. "We've been trying to be consistent.
"We are getting better, but very slowly… You know, with how things have been going, it feels great to pull out a win."
New father Doncic exhausted after NBA-record run not enough for Mavs
Luka Doncic said he was simply exhausted after the Dallas Mavericks failed to capitalise on an NBA-record 30-point run in Saturday's "rollercoaster" defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
A depleted Mavericks side found themselves facing a 24-point deficit at one stage, but Doncic played a talismanic role to drag his team back into contention.
Dallas took the lead with a 30-0 run in the fourth quarter, the best in the NBA in the PXP era (since 1996-97), which took them from 111-87 down to 117-111 up.
Doncic finished with a game-high 36 points while also adding 15 rebounds and 18 assists, but his terrific performance wasn't enough as the Thunder rallied again for a 126-120 victory.
Having played his part in a thrilling contest one day after becoming a father for the first time on Friday, Doncic struggled to hide his fatigue.
"It was the happiest day of my life with the baby, but then today's game was a big rollercoaster too," Doncic said after the game.
"I'm so sad we didn't win this game, but man, we gave a big, big effort. I was a little bit exhausted."
Doncic was frustrated by his finish to the game after committing two turnovers in the last 87 seconds, with the first the result of a travelling call which infuriated the four-time All-Star.
"My view is it probably was a travel, but those travels happen about, in my opinion, 20 times a game," he said.
"So a minute and a half to go, if you're going to call that travel for the first time in the game… you can't do that.
"I don't think so. I think those travels happen a lot of times in one game and the NBA doesn't call the travels, so I was really surprised."
The Mavericks are now 11-8 after suffering back-to-back defeats, and they will look to respond when they welcome the Utah Jazz to American Airlines Center on Wednesday.
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