Jeff Teague was assessed a flagrant foul two and was subsequently ejected from the game after shoulder tackling Ricky Rubio in transition during the Timberwolves’ matchup against the Jazz on Friday. The flagrant came one possession after Teague and head coach Tom Thibodeau felt Rubio’s defense on a drive warranted a foul.
Jeff Teague literally bodychecked Ricky Rubio into the Wolves bench pic.twitter.com/TNU1Io18rK
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) March 3, 2018
Nobody saw Teague’s shove coming, and he was tossed shortly after Karl-Anthony Towns was ejected for a questionable technical foul.
Jae Crowder was the first to come to Rubio’s defense. He rolled up on Teague and grabbed him before officials had to separate the two:
Remember when Gordon would avoid these scrums, watch how fast Jae Crowder gets in there. pic.twitter.com/4WYo3H3cPL
— Taylor Griffin (@griffdunk) March 3, 2018
That led to a verbal spat between Crowder and Thibodeau, who eventually had to be separated. They were assessed double technical fouls.
The Wolves may be without Jimmy Butler, out four-to-six weeks with a torn meniscus, but he came to his teammate’s aid shortly after on Twitter:
haven’t used Twitter in years. But yeah Jeff that’s what I like to see. Rubio getting up quick for no reason.
— Jimmy Butler (@JimmyButler) March 3, 2018
Jae get away from my coach. You don’t want no smoke either
— Jimmy Butler (@JimmyButler) March 3, 2018
And look at how Crowder responded:
I DONT TWITTER BEEF ILL LEAVE THAT TO U.. BUT U GOT MY PHONE NUMBER AND KNOW MY HOME ADDRESS..!! THE REST CAN BE HISTORY https://t.co/FGDRYnYyg5
— JAE CROWDER (@CJC9BOSS) March 3, 2018
If these two teams meet in the playoffs, things could get very, very interesting.