My first reaction to seeing the above clip was that Delonte West had invited a couple of buddies from the furniture warehouse to ride shotgun. However, as the Dallas Morning News’ Eddie Sefko explains, it wasn’t a matter of Pistons fans gatecrashing the Mavs bench Tuesday night as much as it was Vince Carter taking advantage of an empty courtside seat a few feet away.
“They were cool,” Carter said. “I just didn’t have enough room to sit so I went on the other side of them. That happens sometimes. They were good dudes. That was where their seats were, so it wasn’t any big deal. But I have to admit, it looked funny when I saw the video.”
The NBA called the Mavericks during the game and requested that Carter move back to the bench area, which he did. The league released this statement through senior vice president for basketball communications Tim Frank:
“The fans were in their ticketed seats, not on the Mavs’ bench. Vince sat in a ticketed seat, instead of the bench, which gave the appearance the fans were on the bench.”