Mark Stevens really should know better than to do what he did.
The Golden State Warriors investor has been identified as the fan who shoved Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry on Wednesday night at Oracle Arena during Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
Lowry fell into the courtside seats while chasing a loose ball during the fourth quarter, and Stevens reached across two seats, pushed him and delivered some choice words.
A #Warriors fan got ejected during Game 3 for pushing Kyle Lowry ⬇️#NBAFinals | #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/xWfEu4gRaj
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 6, 2019
Security ejected Stevens, and Lowry after the game called on the NBA to punish him harshly.
“There’s no place for that,” Lowry said. “He had no reason to touch me. He had no reason to reach over two seats and then say some vulgar language to me. There’s no place for people like that in our league. Hopefully, he never comes back to an NBA game.”
"He reached over and put his hands on me for no reason then he said a couple vulgar words to me … hopefully they ban him from all NBA games ever."
—Kyle Lowry to @notthefakeSVP on a fan who pushed him after he fell into the crowd pic.twitter.com/2BdmdUahF8
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 6, 2019
The Warriors on Thursday condemned Stevens’ actions and announced he’ll no longer attend this season’s NBA Finals games.
“Mr. Stevens’ behavior last night did not reflect the high standards that we hope to exemplify as an organization,” the Warriors said in the statement, per ESPN. “We’re extremely disappointed in his actions and, along with Mr. Stevens, offer our sincere apology to Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors organization for this unfortunate misconduct. There is no place for such interaction between fans — or anyone — and players at an NBA game.”
The Raptors took a 2-1 series lead by beating the Warriors 123-109 in Game 3. The teams will meet again at 9 p.m. ET on Friday at Oracle Arena, but Stevens won’t be in the house.
