Pistons vs. Magic altercation: Killian Hayes appears to knock out Moe Wagner with punch to back of head
Wednesday night's contest between the Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons turned ugly just before halftime as Moe Wagner, Killian Hayes and Hamidou Diallo were all ejected for their roles during an altercation near the Pistons' bench.
With just over 30 seconds remaining in the first half, Hayes and Wagner were chasing a loose ball in the backcourt. As the ball was about to roll out of play, Wagner shoved Hayes in the back, sending the Pistons' guard tumbling into the bench. Diallo raced in and shoved Wagner in the back, then Hayes popped up and punched Wagner in the back of the head.
Wagner immediately collapsed into the Pistons' bench and appeared to be knocked out by the punch. Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley said during his postGame press conference that Wagner was "fine."
"We'll have to go back and look at the film to see exactly what happened," Mosley said. "I was just concerned about my guys that were down on the [Pistons'] bench, down there, making sure they got away from that side. ... Moe Wagner was still on the bench underneath everyone. Markelle [Fultz] was in there trying to help Moe Wagner out, so it was my responsibility to get our players away from the problem. It was not me trying to be restrained, I was trying to make sure our players were taken care of."
Tempers flare in Detroit after an altercation between Moe Wagner and Killian Hayes.@OrlandoMagic | #MagicTogether pic.twitter.com/ig6lYrdju8
— Bally Sports Florida & Bally Sports Sun (@BallySportsFL) December 29, 2022
A massive scrum ensued involving players and coaches from both teams, as well as referees and security personnel. Thankfully, the incident did not get completely out of hand despite the fact that players from the Magic bench ran the full length of the floor to get involved.
Pistons head coach Dwane Casey was upset about that fact and questioned why the Magic did not have more players ejected.
"My understanding of the rule is the fact that when you leave the bench and you're escalating -- words being said, things being said by their players and coaches that were not de-escalating the situation," Casey said. "The official, to his credit said he didn't hear it. OK I understand that. But for them to not have anyone ejected, I gotta go back and get an explanation. My understanding is when you leave the bench and get in a fray like that, that's how bad things start, really bad things start. It could have been worse. I didn't feel like they were de-escalating the situation."
The referees went to the monitor and after a lengthy delay assessed a Flagrant 2 foul on Wagner, which is an automatic ejection. In addition, Hayes and Diallo were both assessed technical fouls and ejected for their roles as instigators. No other penalties were handed out during the game, though it's likely that fines and/or suspensions will be coming for a number of players, including those that left the Magic bench.
Hayes, in particular, could be in line for a serious punishment due to the fact that he delivered a clear punch to the back of a defenseless player's head. An official decision from the league office will not come until later this week, but for comparison's sake, Brandon Ingram was suspended four Games for throwing a punch at Chris Paul in 2018.
Comments
Post a Comment