How Did This Wizards Fan Run On the Court to Celebrate Paul Pierce's Game 3 Buzzer Beater and Not Get Arrested?

College student Will Smith stormed the court after his NBA team's buzzer-beating win and got away with it.

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Complex Original

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Students storming the court after their college or high school wins a game is a dangerous, but proud institutional tradition in American sports. Let the kids be kids. At the NBA level, however, where there are millionaire adults competing for further millions, fans running onto the court is a player safety issue (lest we forget Monica Seles).

Last week, Wizards fan and freshman college student Will Smith was too caught-up in the excitement of Paul Pierce's Game 3 playoff buzzer-beater over the Hawks to give a damn about the NBA Fan Code of Conduct, which explicitly warns fans against charging the court: 


Guests will not engage in fighting, throwing objects or attempting to enter the court, and those who engage in any of these actions will immediately be ejected from the game.

In the above video, you can see Smith (in a No. 3 Bradley Beal jersey) wildly run onto the court after the game-winner, and join the Wizards' scrum around Pierce. The Washington Post identified and interviewed Smith yesterday, who said it was, “It was probably the most bold thing I’ve ever done." 

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“I hit [Pierce] in the chest three times,” said Smith. "I forget what I was saying, probably just, ‘Let’s go, baby!’ or something. It didn’t hit me until later what I’d done.”

That "later" moment, Smith said, came when a photographer angrily pushed him out of the way (seen about 23 seconds into the video). “I didn’t know what to say. It was definitely a heart over head experience.”

After about another ten seconds mulling around the court, Smith was escorted back to his seat by security—wait, what about this thing though?


Guests will not engage in fighting, throwing objects or attempting to enter the court, and those who engage in any of these actions will immediately be ejected from the game.

He stormed the court, touched a bunch of players, and security helped him back to his seat. Behold, the power of a game-winner from The Truth: Everyone forgets what their supposed to be doing for the sake of dumb fun. 

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[via DC Sports Blog

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