Bobby Portis ejected in Bucks game vs. Pacers, stood up for Giannis Antetokounmpo

At the 10-minute, 18-second mark of the fourth quarter of the Milwaukee Bucks' game vs. Indiana on Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum, Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith grabbed Giannis Antetokounmpo around the shoulders as he attempted to jump to the rim. Nesmith spun the Bucks 7-footer violently, and nearly to the floor – but held him up – leading Bucks forward Bobby Portis to step up to protect his teammate.

"I mean, just all my teammates man, I'm just here for everybody, man," Portis said after the Bucks' 140-126 victory. "I got everybody back no matter what it is, no matter what time of day it is. I could be 3 in the morning, you call me, I'm up. I'm ready. It don't matter what day of the week it is, who we playing, wherever it is, I always got everybody's back.

"Especially on that. If role were reversed and it was somebody else with a history, you get thrown out. But didn't make a play on the basketball and I didn't like it. I'm always there for my teammates. I got everybody's back no matter what day of the week it is."

Portis and Nesmith were separated, but the Pacers forward kept talking on his way back to the bench and Portis had to be restrained by team security. During the review of the play, Nesmith was assessed a Flagrant 1 and a technical foul.

Crew chief James Capers said after the game that "The act of the foul was deemed to be unnecessary and not excessive and therefore flagrant foul penalty 1."

Portis was given a technical foul also, and cheers of “Bobby! Bobby! Bobby!” echoed around Fiserv Forum.

Capers said Portis was given the technical because he was considered to be the "escalator of the activity that followed the foul."

More: After setting a Bucks scoring record, Giannis Antetokoumpo had a run-in with Pacers players

"Man, that's our guy," Bucks guard Cameron Payne said of Antetokounmpo. "That's our guy. As if it was anybody. We building great camaraderie with each other, man, we got each other's back. We just showing it out there on the floor. I feel like that's a great stepping stone to get to what we want to do at the end of the year, win that Larry O'Brien. So, we got our teammate's back, man, whenever."

Unfortunately for Portis and the Bucks, he didn’t stay in the game long. Portis was assessed his second technical foul and ejected just over a minute later after going back and forth verbally with Obi Toppin. Toppin had fouled Portis as the pair were going for a loose ball.

At the time of his ejection, Portis had 19 points on 8 of 13 shooting and provided a need spark off the bench.

"He's our heart and soul," Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin said. "When it comes to the passion, his competitive spirit is contagious. Those guys have a brotherhood. If you mess with one, one of 'em is going to step up and it's that all for one, one for all mentality with this group. I don't mind that.

"This league is tough. It's tough to get wins and we don't want to back down from anyone. We respect our opponents but we're certainly not going to back down. We're going to keep competing and I love the way we competed and it was a total team win."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bobby Portis ejected in Bucks game vs. Pacers, stood up for Giannis