Jazz mascot nets bat on court before game vs. Timberwolves
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — It took a bear — Jazz Bear — to catch a bat and leave the high-flying hijinks to the NBA players.
Approximately an hour before the Utah Jazz’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, a stray bat disrupted the pregame shooting routines of Jazz stars Donovan Mitchell and Ricky Rubio, as it flew around the court inside the Vivint Smart Home Arena.
The few thousand fans in the building took turns cheering and then groaning while watching the flying mammal zip around the arena and elude several security guards and an on-court employee armed with a net.
Jazz Bear took a break from entertaining the crowd by taking a few swings himself before finally capturing it — with nothing but net.
vs. pic.twitter.com/0xFYmy34M9
— Jazz Bear (@utahjazzbear) January 26, 2019
The proud mascot strolled off the court with the big catch, to the wild cheers of the fans.
Mitchell expressed his fear after Utah’s 106-101 win, saying, “That was scary. I was really uncomfortable with that. I’m relieved the Bear took care of him, otherwise I wouldn’t have completed my warmup. If he was still flying around, I would have retreated to the locker room.”
The whole thing quickly became a social media hit, and Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma appropriately tweeted : “Where is Manu when you need him.”
Of course, the person in question is Manu Ginobili, the former star of the San Antonio Spurs, who is well-known for batting a bat down to the hardwood and capturing it during a game against Sacramento on Halloween night in 2009.
http://twitter.com/kylekuzma/status/1088972630919544834
Where is Manu when you need him. https://t.co/JFlF7Kyr4C
— kuz (@kylekuzma) January 26, 2019
