Locker Then I Got Mad Again and Then I Do It Over His Head

PHOENIX — The moment was finally his. Three days afterwards scoring a career-high 17 points in a narrow loss to the Clippers, Goga Bitadze made his beginning start of the season Thursday night against the Warriors at a sold out Chase Center in San Francisco.

Would the third-year Pacers heart, who used basketball to escape dire circumstances back home in his native country of Georgia, cower under the vivid lights, or prove a national television audience that he could hang with the best players in the world? For 31 minutes, 21 seconds, it was the latter.

Bitadze tuckered Indiana's first shot of the game, a 3-pointer, and so less than 2 minutes later on swatted two-time league MVP Steph Back-scratch's layup off the backboard. With all five of the Pacers' projected starters for the 2021-22 season sidelined due to injury, including frontcourt mates Domantas Sabonis (left ankle sprain) and Myles Turner (stress reaction in left pes), Bitadze filled in and speedily proved why he was selected 18th overall by Indiana in the 2019 NBA Draft.

Then, he was quickly escorted dorsum to the visiting locker room.

"The guy was staring me down. I didn't like that," Bitadze said. "I forgot that I had a technical foul earlier in the game (after arguing a telephone call in the second quarter), simply he was staring me downward."

Bitdaze was having arguably the best game of his NBA career, totaling 13 points, nine rebounds and five assists, when he lost his cool after getting dunked on by Aureate State'southward Gary Payton 2 with half dozen:44 left in a tight game. Instead of using his caput to remain calm, Bitadze literally used it to retaliate, headbutting Payton and subsequently being ejected.

"He was staring me down and information technology was really disrespectful. That's how I felt. Perhaps the headbutt was a little too much," Bitadze said earlier pausing to recall a little longer. "But I'd practise it again."

The 6-xi big homo said his only regret was not being there for his teammates, who nevertheless pulled off a dramatic 121-117 overtime victory confronting the Warriors. Maybe the dustup is too fresh for Bitadze to admit he was wrong, but underneath that stubbornness is a great deal of gratitude, too.

That one hot-headed moment in front of 18,064 fans doesn't define Bitadze, simply rather the circumstances he overcame to even be in that packed loonshit.

"Back at home, it was not fun at all. In that location was a lot of criminals and mafia in the streets," Bitadze said of his upbringing in Georgia. "Merely to not get involved in that, information technology was actually hard. And also with basketball, nobody was paying a lot of attention to that. So it was hard to stay focused on basketball game, but my family unit really, really helped me with that. And likewise just my family was really struggling. Everybody back home was struggling, to be honest, at that time. And so it'southward a big matter for our whole state for me to come up over hither and play in the NBA."

'Coming from difficult times'

Bitadze was built-in in Sagarejo, a town in Kakheti, Georgia, on July, 20, 1999, and by the time he became a teenager, his was a basketball game phenom. Equally a 16-year-old, Bitadze made his professional debut with VITA Tbilisi in the VTB United League during the 2015-16 flavour, becoming the youngest player in league history.

Bitadze connected to climb through the ranks, shining in the Basketball League of Serbia, ABA League First Partitioning and the EuroLeague before eventually being drafted by the Pacers in 2019.

"Maybe it sounds wrong, simply (playing basketball) was just to stay out of the streets and all of that problem," Bitadze said. "My family unit and my mom simply wanted me to stay out of problem. That was it. I was just playing and having fun, but I didn't really realize that I could make information technology this far and to even exist drafted, to be honest."

Bitadze originally declared for the 2018 NBA Draft but withdrew to continue working on his game. Even afterward developing into a certain-fire get-go-round selection the post-obit summer, though, well-nigh NBA fans were introduced to Bitadze considering of a viral photograph of him and Zion Williamson rather than his skill set.

During a 2019 pre-typhoon media availability session, Bitadze is seen looking over his shoulder at Williamson, the eventual No. 1 option, beingness swarmed past dozens of reporters while no reporters are in Bitadze'south vicinity.

Three-time NBA champions and time to come Hall of Famers Dwyane Wade and Draymond Dark-green shared their thoughts on the photo, which was shared to Instagram, encouraging Bitadze to internalize it.

"Use it as fuel," Wade wrote.

"He should frame this pic… await at it everyday and grind!" Green echoed.

Merely three years subsequently, after Williamson was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team and Bitadze is at present showing flashes of his own potential, Bitadze said he never needed that photograph to drive him.

The struggles of his youth already do that.

"I've been asked this question many times, and dorsum dwelling they asked me this question, but (the photo) really doesn't mean nothing to me, to exist honest," Bitadze said. "Coming from Georgia, coming from hard times and coming from at that place, that's enough motivation. The picture basically means nil because it was but one moment."

'For my state'

Entering Saturday'due south game at Phoenix, Bitadze's 31 minutes at Aureate Country on Thursday marked the second nearly minutes he'd ever played in an NBA contest and just the 11th time he's eclipsed 20 minutes in 125 career games.

Bitadze has been assigned to Indiana'southward Grand-League chapter, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, twice this season. In two games, he dominated to the melody of 28.five points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks, while shooting 67.7% overall and 63.6% from beyond the arc, clearly showing that he's besides good for that level.

Now, after hardly playing in the kickoff 3 years of his career, Bitadze is proving that he's pretty good at the NBA level, too, scoring ten of his xiii points in the first quarter Thursday against the Warriors.

"He's washed a peachy job of keeping himself gear up," Pacers double-decker Rick Carlisle said. "That'southward obvious just by his performance in the G-League games."

Of course, Carlisle would've preferred for Bitadze to finish 1 of his best NBA games, merely afterward Carlisle wasn't upset about Bitadze'south deportment.

"Goga had a tremendous night, and the attitude that he showed when he got ejected is 1 of the reasons that nosotros were equally resilient as we were and as defiant as we were (Thursday)," Carlisle said. "Because you gotta exist defiant to come up in here (to Golden State) on the second night of a back-to-back, with the guys out that we had out and exist able to pull off the win."

Bitadze plans to continue soaking up knowledge from Sabonis and Turner while they are sidelined and making the most of his opportunity. He said it was surreal to assist Indiana come away victorious in front of the Warriors' 400th directly sold out crowd, especially considering that his beau countryman Zaza Pachulia won two titles with Gilt State.

Pachulia is at present a basketball operations consultant for the Warriors, and when Bitadze was asked whether he talked a little trash to him later on the game, Bitadze smiled sheepishly and made it clear that he didn't programme on having some other dustup at Chase Middle.

"No," Bitadze said, laughing. "We talked before. That'southward like family, my basketball family unit. So I didn't do that."

Thursday's victory over Aureate State was arguably Indiana's all-time win of the flavor and gave Pacers fans a rare opportunity to cheer during an otherwise underwhelming flavor. Bitadze said the victory likewise meant a lot to his loved ones thousands of miles away in Georgia who, because of the fourth dimension difference, stay up really late to picket him live out his dream in the NBA.

"For three years everybody has been waiting for me to play and waiting for me to play," Bitadze said. "Information technology was frustrating for them and me as well, just finally for me to get these minutes and for people to get to see me play against the Warriors ... it was a really good game for me and for my land."

Follow IndyStar Pacers shell writer James Boyd on Twitter: @RomeovilleKid. Reach him via email: jboyd1@gannett.com.

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Source: https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nba/pacers/2022/01/22/indiana-pacers-goga-bitadze-gary-payton-ii-warriors/6622316001/