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Latvian big man Davis Bertans won the Spurs-Bucks fight with his postgame quote

Ben Rohrbach
·Senior NBA writer
San Antonio Spurs big man Davis Bertans earned his first career ejection in the NBA. (Getty Images)
San Antonio Spurs big man Davis Bertans earned his first career ejection in the NBA. (Getty Images)

Davis Bertans doesn’t look like a typical NBA enforcer. If not for the patchy scruff on his face and him ducking under doors, the redhead’s lanky frame and haircut — an anti-mullet combo of crewcut in back and boys regular up front — has him primed for a fourth-grade photo shoot, laser beams and all.

Bertans also plays for the San Antonio Spurs, who have gone three full seasons and nearly four whole years without an ejection. And I’ll give you three guesses who — yup, it was Stephen Jackson against the Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 9, 2013. And that was just for incessant complaining about the officials.

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And yet there was Bertans, coming to the defense of a Spurs teammate in the third quarter of Monday night’s game, when Milwaukee Bucks big man Greg Monroe hung all over and ultimately shoved Dewayne Dedmon. So, in stepped Bertans to shove a guy nicknamed The Moose right back.

And of course Michael Beasley joined the fracas, shoving Bertans and peacemaker Jonathon Simmons, before Monroe treated Nicolas Laprovittola’s face like Alec Baldwin treats paparazzi cameras …

… but the whole thing ended without a punch thrown, which might help everyone avoid a suspension, although referees did dole out technicals for Beasley, Bertans, Dedmon and Monroe, as well as ejections for Beasley and Bertans. The tech and ejection were the 21st and third of Beasley’s career, respectively, and both firsts for Bertans, who became the first Spur ejected in a whopping 1,426 days.

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And I can’t even remember an in-game scuffle involving San Antonio since George Hill got into it with Kobe Bryant after Christmas in 2010. (Kobe was awfully good at getting under the Spurs’ skin.) There was a brief heated exchange between David West and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Enes Kanter after a game at the end of last season, but the Spurs have been a disciplined team under Gregg Popovich. At least since Kevin Willis almost ended New York Knicks forward Clarence Weatherspoon in 2002.

Except, we forgot one thing about Bertans. He’s a 6-foot-10 dude who grew up in the Adriatic League.

And the Spurs seemed to benefit from their boyish Latvian enforcer standing up to a bully, or at least Pop didn’t appear upset with Bertans and his teammates gained a little more respect for the rookie. More from San Antonio Express-News beat reporter Jeff McDonald on the reaction to Bertans’ shove:

“We just got tired of playing soft,” said Popovich.

Added All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge: “I’m going to leave him alone now.”

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The Bucks led by as much as 15 midway through the third quarter, and soon afterwards Popovich inserted Dedmon and Bertans for starters Aldridge and Pau Gasol. They helped cut the lead to four at the time of the ejection. Dedmon’s rebound over Monroe ultimately helped slash the deficit to two after the scuffle, and the Spurs battled for a 97-96 win, the end of which Bertans watched on TV.

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!