Why Goga Bitadze Was Ejected in Magic vs. Hawks

Things continue to get physical between the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks.

After several physical moments between the two teams during their four meetings this season, things continued to get dangerous in the fourth quarter of their final regular season contest. Bitadze went up for a rebound against Hawks center Jock Landale, but he pulled down his shoulder, which led him to hit the ground hard.

It was a scary moment in the arena, but Landale was cleared to play by Hawks medical staff after being looked at on the ground.

Following the play, Hawks guard Dyson Daniels came to Landale's defense and pushed Bitadze after the play. He was assessed a technical foul while Bitadze was handed a flagrant-2 foul, which led to his ejection from the game.

Injury Video: #Hawks C Jock Landale took a nasty fall after a dirty foul from #Magic Goga Bitadze.

Bitadze needs to be suspended.#NBA time to act 😡 pic.twitter.com/5h6NuJDiMG
— FirstDownMedia (@FirstDownMediaa) April 2, 2026

Bitadze Ejected After Flagrant Foul on Landale

The foul was another moment of frustration for the Magic, who fell behind early in the first half after surrendering 47 points against the Hawks. The Hawks went on a 16-0 run during the second quarter, which put the Magic in a hole that they could never get out of.

Orlando Magic center Goga Bitadze against the Phoenix Suns. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Hawks' 47-26 second quarter put the Magic in a familiar position trailing by a lot far too early in the contest.

It remains to be seen what disciplinary action will take place following Bitadze's ejection, but it's possible that he could face some kind of fine or suspension. With only six games left to go in the regular season, this could affect the Magic's rotation a lot down the stretch.

Bitadze was often on the outside looking in of the center rotation for the Magic when Moe Wagner returned from a torn ACL back in January, but the team has opted to turn to the Georgian big man instead of him in recent weeks.

Wagner had struggled, so Mosley made the change, but it looks like he may end up going back to Wagner because he has no choice.

The Magic have been dejected over the last couple of weeks, losing eight of their last 10 games, but this is just the cherry on top of a sundae for a team that can't seem to find any rhythm when they need to be playing their best basketball of the season.

The Magic's next game comes on Friday when they take on the Dallas Mavericks at 8:30 p.m. ET inside the American Airlines Center.