Wizards assistant coach gets into altercation with fan toward end of loss vs. Heat

Washington Wizards assistant coach Mike Batiste was involved in an altercation with a fan in the last minute of their loss to the Miami Heat on Monday night. You can watch the video below.

Batiste went toward a fan who sat behind the team’s bench, apparently after some heckling. However, center Montrezl Harrell was able to separate him before the situation got out of hand. It is not clear which fans were heckling from the video above.

After the game during postgame media, Head Coach Wes Unseld, Jr. noted that some fans heckled the team which eventually got Batiste over the edge. But he noted that NBA teams on the bench have to take the high road.

There are a number of tweets and posts alleging what was said at the Wizards bench, but I won’t post them. What I will say is that as fans, we have recently become frustrated or angry with the team’s performance. The Wizards have lost eight of their last 10 games and it’s clear that things aren’t working, even though the overall talent has improved on paper.

Yes, it was wrong for Batiste to confront the fan(s) who made various insults. But at the same time, fans shouldn’t be saying over the top insults at players.