The basketball brawl of the decade just went down in an Australia-versus-Philippines FIBA World Cup Qualifier. It started with an elbow to the face of Australia's Chris Goulding. Then came another elbow in retaliation, then a flying punch—and then all hell broke loose.
The Philippines' bench cleared. Nine players from the squad were ejected following the fight, so they had to play three on five.
Caught up in the middle of it: the Milwaukee Bucks' and Australia's Thon Maker (No. 7 in yellow), who jumped into the center of the ruckus and at one point attempted a drop-knee.
Former Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets power forward Andray Blatche landed a massive punch.
One player even got hit with a chair. A chair!
The crowd started throwing bottles at the Australian players, leading the organizers to plead with the fans to calm down.
Once two Philippines players fouled out, the game was down to five-on-one—so the refs called it, sealing the Aussies' massive win.
Just...wow.
Both teams had already advanced to the next round of qualifying. We'll see if FIBA enacts any punitive measures.
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