Clash of Basketball Titans: Coach Paul Silas Vs. Cager Tyrus Thomas

Clash of Basketball Titans: Coach Paul Silas Vs. Cager Tyrus Thomas

Confirmed!  Charlotte Bobcats Coach Paul Silas pushed 6-foot-10 forward Tyrus Thomas after a heated postgame screaming argument Sunday night, league sources said.

Several players intervened immediately and separated the player and coach, and no punches were thrown, sources said.

Silas, 68, heated up with Thomas’ chatting with some Boston Celtics players on the court, and screamed at him in the losing locker room afterward. Eventually, Thomas snapped back at Silas, and the coach warned him to shut up or risk a suspension.

Once Thomas stood up, Silas shoved him forcefully towards his locker, sources said.

Rod Higgins, Bobcats president of basketball operations called Silas and Thomas for a meeting, and both have been fined, a source said.

"There was an incident," Higgins told Y! Sports. "We handled it internally and talked to both the player and the coach and moved on. End of story."

Charlotte has spiraled to a 7-53 record, and the Boston losing the game had been especially embarrassing for Silas, who played for the Celtics during his heyday. The Celtics sat out Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, and still got the victory easily.

“Silas hates losing to the Celtics, and Paul was even angrier that he thought [Thomas] was acting buddy-buddy with some of their guys,” one source said.

“That’s what got it going. But Paul was yelling at him over his salary, over what they have left to pay him. But it started with him saying, “Hey, he could live with the losing, but you’re going to be buddy-buddy as they’re beating your ass too?”

Posted by Andre Monohan on Friday April 20 2012, 2:17 AM EDT. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0