Wednesday night’s game between the Orlando Magic and the Detroit Pistons was dismissed just before halftime as Moe Wagner, Cillian Hayes and Hamidou Diallo were ejected for their roles after an altercation near the Pistons’ bench. , became ugly.
With just over 30 seconds remaining in the first half, Hayes and Wagner were chasing loose balls in the backcourt. As the ball nearly rolled out of play, Wagner shoved Hayes back and rolled the Pistons guard to the bench. hit.
Wagner immediately collapsed onto the Pistons’ bench and appeared to be knocked out with a punch.
“You have to go back and watch the movie to figure out exactly what happened,” Mosley said. “I was just worried about my subordinates who were depressed. [Pistons’] I put a bench down to make sure they were off that side. … Moe Wagner was still on the bench below everyone.Markell [Fultz] I was trying to help Mo Wagner, so it was my responsibility to keep the players out of trouble.
A massive scrum ensued involving players and coaches from both teams, as well as referees and security guards. Thankfully, the incident didn’t get completely out of hand, despite the fact that Magic Bench players ran the entire floor to participate.
Pistons head coach Dwayne Casey was upset by the fact and wondered why the Magic didn’t eject more players.
“The rule I understand is that when you leave the bench, it escalates. Words that don’t escalate situations, things said by players and coaches,” Casey said. “The officer said, to his credit, he didn’t hear it. OK, I understand that. My understanding is that when you come off the bench and fight like that and that’s how bad things start, really bad things start. did not seem to alleviate the situation.
The referee went to the monitor and after a lengthy delay assessed Fragrant 2 fouls on Wagner, an automatic ejection. Additionally, Hayes and Diallo were both assessed technical fouls and sent off for their role as instigators. No other penalties were imposed during the game, but many players could be fined or suspended, including those who left Magic’s bench.
Hayes, in particular, could face serious punishment for the fact that he threw a clear punch to the back of the head of an unsuspecting player. For comparison, Brandon Ingram received a four-game suspension for throwing a punch at Chris Paul in 2018.
