Nba, brawl on the field between Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic: 11 disqualified – Corriere.it

Here comes the sting of the NBA for the brawl that marred the game between the Detroit Pistons and the Orlando Magic on December 28. The Pistons pay the toughest bill in terms of heaviness of the penalty: three days under guard Killian Hayes and one under Hamidou Diallo. But the Magic — among them
Paolo Banchero was luckily not caught up in the storm
— become unbeatable in the amount of punished: two days to the German Moritz Wagner and one day to eight other players, namely Cole Anthony, RJHampton, Gary Harris, Kevon Harris, Admiral Schofield, Franz Wagner (Moritz’s brother), Mo Bamba and Wendell Carter Jr.

The fault of the eight is to have left the bench and, even if the intent was perhaps to help appease spirits (and to defend Moritz Wagner), a rule was automatically triggered, designed to avert worse turmoil in the bud: whoever gets up and enters the field is as if they were participating in the fight; therefore he must be punished without any possible exception. The brawl occurred when Wagner was whistled for a “flagrant foul” and was sent off. As he left the hardwood he pushed Hayes against the Detroit bench. Diallo, punished with a technical foul and in turn kicked out, continued to fuel the tense atmosphere by pushing Wagner. At that point Hayes threw himself at the German, punching him in the back of the neck: his expulsion was also inevitable. It was the absurd epilogue of a game that had already been largely decided: the Little Caesars Arena had 33” left to go and Detroit had secured the victory (122-101 the final score), so it was an episode that really has no justification.

Detroit is evidently the place for brawls. The thought inevitably returns to the November 19, 2004 when the mother of all uproars broke out at the Palace in Auburn Hills (the facility where the Pistons played at the time and which was recently demolished), players from the Pistons and arch-rivals the Indiana Pacers are involved. The main protagonist of that epic turmoil – renamed “The Malice at the Palace”, complete with a docu-film – was Ron Artest (who would later change his name to Metta World Peace and years later would also play some matches in Serie A with Cantù): he was banned for a record 86 days. But there were other exemplary penalties following: Stephen Jackson, 30 games out; Jermaine O’Neal 15 (initially there were 25); Ben Wallace 6, Anthony Johnson 5; and another 5 with one-day suspensions.

Now that the Palace is gone, the new facility has been… christened. Another curious detail: the sanctions were imposed by Joe Dumars, who today deals with the disciplinary aspects of the NBA, but who as a player was one of the strengths of the Detroit Pistons of the Bad Boys era between the 80s and 90s So, no discounts to his former team. Finally, you will ask how are the Magic going to play with 9s hanging. Here, in such a case, the splitting of the punishments is triggered to allow the team, in the next games, to have at least 8 starters to send to the scoresheet. Also in this case the NBA decides: beyond Moritz Wagner, who must immediately serve the punishment, the chosen formula is 3 suspensions for one game; then another 2 and finally the last 3. It was Dumars who established the rotations of the eight in expiation of guilt.