Hornets’ Bridges pelts young fan with mouthpiece after ejection

Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges was as accurate with his mouthpiece as he was from behind the arc on Wednesday — not very. 

After Bridges was ejected from the Hornets’ 132-103 play-in loss versus the Atlanta Hawks, the 24-year-old, aiming for an adult male fan, instead hit a teenage girl with his mouthpiece. 

Bridges was called for goaltending in the fourth quarter as the Hornets were getting blown out, leading him to argue the call with official James Williams, who tossed him from the game. As he walked to the locker room, Bridges tried to throw his mouthpiece at the fan yelling at him, but he missed and instead hit a 16-year-old girl, according to the Charlotte Observer.

Miles Bridges. 😳

pic.twitter.com/QikkqdnHsr

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) April 14, 2022

Bridges called his outburst “unacceptable.”

“I was aiming for the guy that was screaming at me and it hit a little girl,” Bridges told reporters after the game. “So that’s definitely unacceptable on my part, and I take full responsibility. That’s out of character for me. You’ve been around me; I don’t act like that or ever flash out like that. So that was definitely wrong, a lot of emotions and hopefully I can get in contact with the young girl and sincerely apologize to her and do something nice for her, but that’s definitely on me.”

Bridges was fined $50,000 by the NBA on Thursday.

Bridges missed all four of his 3-point attempts in the season-ending loss, compiling a dreadful negative-30 plus-minus in 30 minutes. He said he will accept whatever punishment comes his way from the NBA.

“I was upset about a call, a couple of calls really,’’ he said. “I let my temper get the best of me. It was definitely the wrong thing to do.’’