The Houston Rockets managed to stave off elimination on Wednesday, building a huge early lead over the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 that proved enough to force Game 6. Despite the big lead, it wasn’t exactly a smooth win by the Rockets.
After going up by 31 points on the visiting Warriors, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr both pulled their starters in the third quarter. Golden State's bench mob ended up making a furious comeback that forced Udoka to put his starters back in. While Kerr didn't do the same, there were fireworks nonetheless as the game entered crunchtime.
With the Warriors down by 13 and just over four minutes remaining, Warriors guard Pat Spencer and Houston's Dillon Brooks got into a tussle over a loose ball. Brooks ended up on the ground, which his teammate Alperen Sengun took offense to. He got into Spencer's face—and got a headbutt for his troubles.
After reviewing the situation the referees ejected Spencer for headbutting Sengun. Here's the sequence:
Pat Spencer ejected for headbutt on Sengun 😳 pic.twitter.com/BqijgTXmp6
— House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) May 1, 2025
And here's how everything kicked off:
Braxton Key misses the wide open layup under the rim and an altercation starts off Pat Spencer and Dillon Brooks pic.twitter.com/kEqr13AVcs
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) May 1, 2025
Spencer was on a two-way contract with the Warriors this season before earning a standard deal in March. He played lacrosse in college before electing to try his hand at a basketball career. Spencer scored 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting before his headbutt earned him an ejection.
The Warriors would ultimately lose, 131-116, and head back to the Bay Area for Friday night's Game 6.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Warriors Player Ejected for Headbutting During Scuffle With Rockets in Game 5 .
