Milwaukee Bucks: Thon Maker ejected after brawl in FIBA World Cup Qualifier

Milwaukee Bucks center Thon Maker was one of 13 players ejected after a colossal brawl broke out in a FIBA game between Australia and the Philippines.

Led by Milwaukee Bucks duo Matthew Dellavedova and Thon Maker, the Australia Boomers picked up a win in their latest FIBA World Cup qualifier on Monday. The Boomers prevailed 83-59 as the game, which will be long remembered for non-basketball reasons, was brought to a close with just under two minutes left in the third quarter.

Instead, the discussion will center around a truly remarkable and ugly brawl that resulted in a total of 13 players being ejected — four Australians and nine Filipinos.

While Dellavedova wasn’t on the floor during the incident, Maker was, and his actions certainly drew plenty of attention in the events that unfolded.

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The fracas started when Australian guard Chris Goulding received an elbow to the face and was then barged to the ground by Roger Pogoy on the Filipino’s drive, provoking his teammate Daniel Kickert to retaliate with a stiff elbow that sent Pogoy to the floor.

From there, the Filipino players came rapidly piling in with the situation escalating further after the first punches were thrown by former Brooklyn Nets big man Andre Blatche and Filipino point guard Jason Castro.

While the Australian bench were held back, their Filipino counterparts emptied on to the floor to take part in the ensuing melee, leaving the Boomer players significantly outnumbered.

In what looked like an attempt to get between his teammates and the surging opponents, Maker jumped over the top of bodies into the center of the scuffle, where he was punched on the back of the head by Terrence Romeo, who Maker then chased down and aimed a flying kick at.

The skirmish continued in disgusting fashion, as while some of the Australians had been chased off toward halfcourt, Goulding, the player who was caught with the initial elbow, was isolated and pinned to the ground by a group of Filipino players and officials. Holding a chair over him, the Australian guard was repeatedly punched.

After a lengthy delay, officials returned to the court to announce the game would resume with 13 players having been ejected.

That left the Philippines with just three eligible players, briefly playing 5-on-3 before they opted to foul out and end the game.

Following the conclusion of the game, FIBA was quick to announce the start of an investigation and disciplinary proceedings against both teams.

That will almost certainly result in significant punishment for both teams and a host of individual players, including Maker, while whether the NBA make any statement on the involvement of one of their players in the incident remains to be seen.

Basketball Australia released their own statement on the events too, with chief executive Anthony Moore remarking:

"“Basketball Australia deeply regrets the incident in tonight’s match between the Boomers and the Philippines in Manila. We are extremely disappointed with what happened and our role in it.This is not the spirit in which sport should be played and certainly not in the spirit in which we aim to play basketball.We apologise to our fans and will await the penalties to be handed down.”"

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In what was just his second game for his national team, Maker contributed eight points, four rebounds and four assists in 17 minutes, while Dellavedova also chipped in with nine points, four assists, four steals and three rebounds in 15 minutes.