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 bounds, Wagner shoved Hayes back and rolled the Pistons guard onto the bench.
Wagner immediately collapsed onto the Pistons’ bench and appeared to be knocked out with a punch.
A massive scrum ensued involving players and coaches from both teams, as well as referees and security guards. Thankfully, after a few more clashes and exchanges of words, cold heads prevailed and the incident didn’t get completely out of hand.
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.
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.