Canadian basketball team forfeits Game 7 of finals after shootaround fight

Game 7 of the National Basketball League of Canada’s finals was supposed to be Thursday night. But after a huge brawl between the two teams, the Halifax Rainmen decided they’d rather forfeit the winner-take-all game than show up, giving the Windsor Express the championship.

It all started at shootaround:

Gerry Brumpton, the assistant coach of the Windsor Express, said Thursday that the Halifax Rainmen showed up too early for their scheduled for 1 p.m. shoot around.

Brumpton said Bill Jones, the Windsor Express head coach, tried to retrieve a basketball from one of the Rainmen players. He said when the player refused to hand the ball over, an altercation ensued.

Police were called to the scene for a fight between 15 to 20 men, but by the time they got there, Halifax had already gotten on the team bus and left. Before the game, they released a statement saying the game was canceled due to “security concerns.” Officials tried to woo them back, but eventually the league decided this counted as a forfeit and that Windsor had won the title.

The Rainmen were fined $90,000 Canadian -- $20,000 as an organization, $10,000 to the head coach and $5,000 for each player and one assistant coach.

It’s funny watching how quickly the Express’ Twitter feed pivoted from “Game 7 is happening!” to “uhhh... the game is postponed?” to “WE’RE THE CHAMPIONS” to “here is how to get your ticket refund” as the evening unfolded.