The NBA, which has always been known for its level of sports and entertainment in each of its games, is experiencing an unprecedented escalation of violence right now. In the early hours of Saturday morning, just one day after the match between Dillon Brooks and Donovan Mitchell in the Cleveland Cavaliers-Memphis Grizzlies, another monumental confrontation caused a man mountain and five ejections in the duel between Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic.
The hostile atmosphere at the Target Center in Minneapolis erupted in the third quarter following a confrontation near the sideline between Rivers of Austin AND Mo Bamba.
Rivers, a Timberwolves shooting guard and son of head coach Doc Rivers (Sixers), confronted Bamba, who was sitting on the Magic bench, after an exchange of words.
The 2.13m pivot quickly rose from his post in front of Rivers (1.93m) and both traded punches on the court as teammates and security rushed to the referees who tried to separate them.
In addition to Bamba and Rivers, the officials ejected the point guard Jalen suggestsfor magic, and on prince tauro and power forward Jaden McDaniels for the Timberwolves.
In the press room, Rivers accused Bamba of throwing him disrespectful comments after missing a triple from clear position.
“I’m not going to reveal what he said but I didn’t like the way he spoke to me. There was no reason, I don’t know him personally”declared the replacement guard. “In the next play I asked him to be respectful. I don’t want to be the tough guy, but I also won’t let anyone disrespect me.”complete.
“I felt bad about being sent off and I felt that I let my team down. Two other important players have also been sent off in the meantime and that makes me feel very bad.”Rivers said with a serious face.
The Magic, who at the time of the fight led 83-73 with one minute and 32 seconds left in the third quarter, ended up beating Minnesota 127-120 by 20 points by backup point guard Cole Anthony.
The incident occurred just one day after the quarrel between Dillon Brooks (Grizzlies) e Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers) for which they were also expelled. This Friday, the NBA fined Brooks one game for causing the fight with a blow to the testicles Mitchell, who was fined $20,000 for his angry reaction.
Source: Clarin
Jason Root is the go-to source for sports coverage at News Rebeat. With a passion for athletics and an in-depth knowledge of the latest sports trends, Jason provides comprehensive and engaging analysis of the world of sports.