ESPN NBA

(On FreeDarko they have a jokey meter of Darko Milicic's mood. The headline of this post is what that thing says at the moment of this writing.)

I watched most of the Grizzlies vs. Rockets last night, and one of the things I noticed was that Darko Milicic made a difference.

Frustration: 7-footers like Milicic aren't accustomed to much taller opponents. (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE/Getty Images)

Like, for instance, the sequence early in the fourth quarter, when it seemed like maybe the undermanned Houston team (Von Wafer, starter) would still come back. The sequence began with Milicic scoring over Yao Ming in the post.

At the other end, Yao went right back at him, and Milicic first did that "pull the chair out" thing to get Yao off balance, then he took Yao's layup and snatched it before the big Rocket could even release it, causing a jump ball. Then, Milicic won the jump ball.   

He's not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination. But he is a big strong dude who plays hard and can do some things out there. And he showed that last night it what has to be one of Memphis' highlight games.

So it is with a certain irony that last night was also the night that Milicic may have cemented his reputation as one of the angriest dudes in NBA, or YouTube, history.

He's already something of an internet legend for an absolutely insane x-rated 2007 tirade against international referees.

In the third quarter last night, Milicic was called for his fourth foul, while guarding Yao. As he headed for the bench, he was m-a-d.

And he did something truly extraordinary: Out of sheer rage, he ripped his authentic NBA game jersey right down the middle. Not easy to do. Here is the video, which comes with some PG-13 language. TrueHoop reader Ian explains the scene: 

He pulls apart the top of his jersey a la Superman and it rips about three-quarters of the way down the middle. He sits down, looking like he has been assaulted.

You can see his benchmates struggling to contain their laughter.

Amazingly, the equipment people had another jersey in waiting and Darko was good to go for another couple of minutes in the fourth to spell Marc Gasol. ...

The jersey should be in Springfield, or on ebay at the very least.