VIRAL: Fight In Magic-Pistons Game Leads To Three Ejections On Wednesday Night
You never know what you may see in the NBA on any given night and you definitely cannot have a fight without the Detroit Pistons being involved (shout-out to all those Malice at the Palace fans)!
The Orlando Magic were on the road in Detroit on Wednesday night and with about 33 seconds left in the first half, Pistons guard Killian Hayes looked to pick up a loose ball in transition when he was shoved out of bounds into the Pistons’ bench by Magic forward Moritz Wagner.
Hayes immediately got up and struck Wagner in the back of the head, causing both benches to clear as the two teams looked to separate one another with pushing and shoving.
Following a lengthy review, Mo Wagner was assessed a Flagrant Foul, Penalty 2 and was ejected from the game. For Detroit though, Killian Hayes was given a technical foul and ejected for his actions and Hamidou Diallo was also assessed a technical foul and ejected for his actions in the scuffle between the two teams.
No further penalties were handed out by the officials, but the NBA league office will surely take a lengthy look at what transpired and not only hand out fines, but possible suspensions as well to those involved.
Not to mention, players who left the bench area for both teams could wind up receiving a one-game suspension as well.
“He’s fine,” Franz Wagner, the brother of Moritz Wagner, said after the game. “I haven't seen the video, but I know that's the last thing he wanted to do.”
Pistons head coach Dwane Casey also spoke about the altercation after the game and he was not pleased with how everything was handled.
“I was upset because my understanding of the rule is the fact that when you leave your bench to go get in the altercation, your are escalating it,” Casey said. “My thing is the words being said by their players and coaches that were not de-escalating the situation and the official, to his credit, he said he did not hear it. Okay, I understand that, but for them not to have anyone ejected.
"I got to go back and get an explanation because my understanding of the rule is that if you leave the bench, and you go down and get involved, that’s how bad things start, really bad things. I didn’t feel like they were de-escalating the situation.”
The Pistons ultimately won the game 121-101, picking up their ninth victory of the season, but tensions between these two franchises are now high and it will not be surprising to see the league hand out harsh penalties to those involved.
The next time the Pistons and Magic meet will be on February 23 in Orlando, a game that suddenly has a lot more intrigue to it.
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