Wild scenes erupted in Detroit after the benches were cleared and three players were ejected just before halftime at Little Caesar’s Arena.
With 30 seconds left in the first half, the Pistons were dominating the Magic 63-44 when the ball rolled out of the Magic end with Orlando’s Mo Wagner and Detroit’s Killian Hayes in pursuit.
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Thursday December 29th
The ball appeared destined to roll out of bounds despite a full-speed Hayes’ best efforts when his 25-year-old Magic rival Wagner gave him a shoulder bump, sending him into the Pistons bench.
Wagner immediately put his hand up as if to say sorry, but Hamidou Diallo came to his teammate’s defense, pushing Wagner, before Hayes appeared to strike the German in the back of the head.
Camera angles show Wagner falling heavily into the arms of some of the Detroit staff as pandemonium erupts behind him.
Fans were divided as to whether Wagner was knocked out or was playing dead to avoid the fracas.
However, Wagner appeared stunned and unsteady when he got to his feet and extricated himself from the situation.
But the Magic cleared the bench to come to their players’ aid and while there was plenty of pushing and shoving, the teams were eventually separated.
The arena announcer said: “Nobody move. Stay in your seats. Do not move from your seats.
“Things have gotten out of control at Little Caesars Arena,” one of the commentators said.
Another said it was a clear “punch to the back of the head” from Hayes.
As the dust settled, the officials ejected Diallo, Hayes and Wagner, but it is unlikely to be the last heard about the situation.
Draftkings’ Mike Golic Jr. tweeted: “didn’t even notice Wagner got KO’d, the hit to the back of the head didn’t even look that hard?” Looking at it again part of me wonders if he was already down when he got shoved into the guy on the pistons bench?”
Sports commentator Kyle Madson wrote: “That Mo Wagner video looked scary, man.”
He added: “1. The initial shove by Wagner is trash and a dangerous play.
“2. Was Wagner out after the initial push in the back? That looks so weird to me.”
Broadcaster Jonathan Zaslow commented: “Whoa! This is a super dirty play by Mo Wagner. But you punch a guy (out??) in the back of the head …. Killian Hayes is getting 10 games. Easy.”
Detroit radio journalist Jay Scott Smith posted: “Killian Hayes putting a Mo Wagner to sleep with a rabbit punch is not what I had on the #Pistons Bingo Card.”
Fox’s Adam Shadoff added that the Magic could be missing most of their players for the next match after leaving the bench, which is an automatic suspension in the NBA.
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