Bobby Portis Hospitalized Nikola Mirotic, Which Isn't Entirely Surprising Considering The Team They Play For

TheBigLead- Bobby Portis punched his Chicago Bulls teammate Nikola Mirotic in the face at practice on Tuesday, fracturing his face and giving him a concussion. Knowing only that it seemed like Portis was about to get in a lot of trouble. However, Peter Vecsey and Adrian Wojnarowski both reported that Mirotic was the aggressor. Via Vecsey’s Patreon:

​Mirotic initiated the skirmish. “He was the aggressor, not Portis,” I am informed. “Mirotic shoved Portis twice, maybe three times. When Portis retaliated with a hard shove, Mirotic charged him. Portis put him down.”

The players had been talking trash to one another in practice, going back and forth before those exchanges escalated into a physical encounter, league sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Mirotic charged at Portis twice before Portis threw a punch and connected with Mirotic’s face, league sources said. Mirotic dropped to the floor and lay there for several minutes before getting up, league sources said.

------


Being that he grew up in war torn Yugoslavia, there's not a doubt in my mind that Nikola Mirotic is one tough son of a bitch. Unfortunately, there's a big difference between tough and fucking crazy. Bobby Portis, by his own admission, is very much the latter...

Nah, Bobby Portis is legitimately crazy though. Man said he plays angry because he envisions the opponent slapping his mom. Guy’s nuts. pic.twitter.com/JjU15HVp8P

— Persian Papi (@ThatPersianGuy) October 17, 2017

On one hand, I am glad to learn that an NBA player didn't temporarily knock a teammate into an alternate universe by way of a blindsided sucker punch. On the other hand,  if the person throwing said punch envisions the face of his mother's hypothetical assailant on every player that wrongs him like he's in a much less comedic version of 'The Waterboy' then I hesitate to think the result would have been any different if he had caught him while he wasn't looking. 

Obviously the real story here is that this year's Chicago Bulls are so hopeless that multiple players on their team have already said "I can't take this shit anymore, let's fight" before they've even tipped their season off. However, I want to use this time to make a PSA to all professional athletes. Some of your peers used the motivation of a very loose connection with reality to beat unrealistic odds to get to the highest level. Simply put, you better make sure it's not short a couple of branches before barking up the wrong tree, because whatever lies behind the eyes of the individual below is somehow a hell of a lot scarier than it's 6'11, 250 pound frame. Don't poke (...or shove) the bear when the bear's admittedly flagrant temper doesn't even have to consider (non-existent) expectations before going very, very foul.