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The unpredictability of sitting courtside at an NBA game was on full display during a recent matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks.
In a spirited scramble for a loose ball, Lakers guard Marcus Smart inadvertently collided with seasoned television personality and political commentator Bill Maher at the Crypto.com Arena on Sunday afternoon.
Fortunately, both Smart and Maher emerged from the encounter with only minor injuries.
Maher, showing a seemingly injured finger, playfully demonstrated his ailment to the ESPN broadcast team. Meanwhile, Smart was observed nursing his left hand during several plays that followed the collision.
At one point, the impact seemed to affect Smart’s performance, as he missed an open 3-pointer from the corner, visibly favoring his left hand afterward.
He did the same when checking out of the game moments later, but Smart did re-enter and eventually finished the contest, avoiding any serious injury.
Maher doesn’t appear to have suffered anything major either.
The Lakers subsequently won the contest, beating a surging Knicks squad 110-97 in one of their all-around best efforts of the season.
It’s only the fourth time this season the Lakers held an opponent under 100 points, and the Knicks are by far the best team L.A. has done this against, with the others being the Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors.
Luka Doncic led the LeBron James-less Lakers with 35 points, eight rebounds and four assists, making five threes in the process.
Smart shot just 1-for-10 and went 0-for-5 from deep, ending the day with just five points, four assists and two steals.