A game of emotions. You hear it all the time. In fact, that is why so many people regard the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague as the most intense elite basketball to be seen anywhere.
Between the competitive level and uniquely fiery fan support, EuroLeague games produce some of the most impassioned atmospherics to be found under one roof anywhere in the world.
But emotions – especially the most highly-charged ones – need to be kept under control, and in the altercation that ended Game 2 of the playoffs between Real Madrid and Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade on Thursday, they overflowed instead.
An unnecessary and unnecessarily hard foul by Real team captain Sergio Llull against Partizan star Kevin Punter, who confronted Llull, set loose a chain reaction of unchecked emotions among players for both teams.
When the smoke cleared, the referees declared the game over for a lack of players on either team whom they could not disqualify for either participating in the melee or leaving the bench area, which is a well-known prohibition in many sports, precisely to keep such situations from escalating.
Partizan won the game justly, 80-95, even without the last 1 minute 40 seconds being played, to take a 2-0 lead in the series. But the effect of the game's regrettable ending will linger far beyond the result.
A great display of playoff basketball will now be remembered for the wrong reasons, while players who almost always comported themselves as respectful professionals will have to rebuild their reputations.
A season that has been celebrated far and wide for greater competitiveness and fervor than most leagues ever see will be left with an asterisk due to a moment when the passions that marked it boiled over.