This is a scene that the league hates to see, an altercation that turns into a fight in the middle of an NBA game. The meeting between Detroit and Orlando indeed degenerated last night, just before the break, while the Magic was trailing by 19 points on the floor of the Pistons.
In the fight for the ball near the touchline, Moritz Wagner and Killian Hayes found themselves neck and neck and the German took the opportunity to jostle the Frenchman and send him into the background. On his own bench, in this case.
An unsportsmanlike gesture, which obviously did not go over to Detroit, since Wagner quickly found himself surrounded by Detroit players, after a first stroller in the back ofHamidou Diallo.
Neither one nor two, and despite the efforts of assistant Jérôme Allen to contain him, Killian Hayes got up to strike Moritz Wagner in the back, hitting him in the neck. The atmosphere almost degenerated, as the regrouping became more and more important and the speaker of the room implored the spectators to stay in their seats…
We weren’t on the chaos of a “Malice at The Palace”, but it came close, and it also reminded us of the images of the altercation a year ago between Isaiah Stewart and LeBron James, in Michigan again (decidedly…).
We do not know if he added more, but Moritz Wagner in any case seemed to sound good after the blow of Killian Hayes. Still, once the tension subsided, the two players were purely and simply expelled, just like Hamidou Diallo, guilty of having aggravated the situation.
The sanctions against the French leader could be much heavier following this freakout, even if he initially responded to an unsportsmanlike gesture. Several players on the Magic bench could also be suspended for having left their “zone”: Franz Wagner, Cole Anthony, Wendell Carter Jr, Gary Harris, Mo Bamba, RJ Hampton, Terrence Ross, as well as Admiral Schofield…
