Pacers Rookie Ben Hansbrough's Older Brother Tyler Totally Embarrasses Him In Front Of His Friends

There are two ways to look at this incident, which took place during the Pacers-Cavs game last night, in which Tristan Thompson (probably inadvertently) elbowed Pacers rookie Ben Hansbrough, and Pacers psychopath Tyler Hansbrough intervened and admonished Thompson with gusto.

The first is that Ben Hansbrough, a 24-year old guard with 31 minutes of NBA experience, has the best personal enforcer in the league: his brother Tyler, already a budding body man with a reputation for having barely-controlled rage issues. Ben Hansbrough could poke Metta World Peace in the eye—it's his brother who will take (or dish out) the beating. He could tell Stephen Jackson that he usually raps slightly off the beat. He could grab Reggie Evans's balls. He could try to interview Gregg Popovich. He has nothing to fear. He is invincible. When Ben Hansbrough is on the court, you better watch where you swing your elbows, because if they connect with Ben Hansbrough, you'll get a face full of Tyler, and nobody wants that.

The second interpretation: Ben Hansbrough may as well have his mom storm onto the court to break up the fight for him (a shame for which there is some related precedent). Every time someone tries to bully him, his weird older brother—who, by the way, is six inches taller than he is, a lot better at basketball than he is, makes $2.5 million more than he does, and is almost definitely his parents' favorite—will swoop in and make everything awkward and embarrassing, even when he totally doesn't need it. Ben Hansbrough can handle himself, right? No one will ever know, because his insane older brother is always two feet away, barking at anyone who touches him. You just know that every time Tyler leaves the room, Ben ends up covered in toothpaste and toiletpaper, upside down in a locker. It's embarrassing and it's not helping him in fit in.

Whichever way you choose to look at it, one thing is clear: That was definitely a flop.

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