Ball games

 Sometimes we just assume we're dealing with grownups, out here in Sportsball World. And very often we are.

But there are a lot of inner 8-year-olds running around in the world of games, which I suppose makes sense because, well, they're games -- kids games, when you get right down to it. And so the inner 8-year-olds occasionally take over.

Today's example: Last night in Milwaukee the Bucks and Indiana Pacers played an NBA game, and a playground dispute broke out.

What happened was, Giannis Antetokounmpo set off a franchise-record 64-point bomb on the Pacers, as the Bucks rolled Indiana 140-126. Afterward, because it's not every night even Giannis drops 64 on someone, he went looking for the game ball as a memento.

Surprise! 

The Pacers, it seems, had already taken it as a memento for Oscar Tshiebwe, who scored his first NBA point last night. A scuffle in the corridor outside the Pacers locker room ensued after Giannis went scurrying off to retrieve the ball, with a lot of yelling and shouting and general scuffling and the like.

I wasn't there, but I've been around for a few playground disputes in my time. So I imagine the Reader's Digest condensed version went something like this:

"Gimme my ball!"

"No! It's our ball!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Nuh-UH. This is MY gym, and that ball is MY property!"

"Too bad! Finders keepers, bud!"

"I'm callin' my dad!"

"Go ahead! I'll hide this ball where he'll NEVER find it!"

And then Giannis bursts into tears, or something.

In any case, later on Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said the whole thing was a big misunderstanding, which frankly it probably was. But here's my question -- and it's a real question, because I honestly don't know:

Aren't entire racks of basketballs present for every NBA game?

And how often do more than one of those basketballs get used in a game? 

I'm guessing it does occasionally happen, although I don't know if it happened last night. But if it did, then technically there was more than one game ball available. And if it didn't ...

Well, I still don't quite get all the fuss. I say Giannis gets the game ball -- it was a franchise record, and he set it in the franchise's home arena -- and the Bucks give the Pacers another ball to give to Tshiebwe. He's still getting a ball from that night as a memento, so what's the big deal?

Only an 8-year-old would care. 

Which, of course, is the crux of everything here.