Five players and two coaches, including Argentine assistant Pablo Prigioni, were expelled by a massive trifulca during Sunday’s game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Detroit Pistons in the NBA.
The incident was triggered at the beginning of the second quarter, when the rookie of the Pistons Ron Holland hit Naz Reid to prevent the Minnesota pivot from scoring an entrance to the basket.
Reid immediately faced Holland, while his partner Donte Divinzzo interposed between them.
The situation climbed when Holland and Divinzzo exchanged shoves and, with the arrival of companions and members of the coaching staff, a tangan monumental was formed that extended to the front row of spectators.
DivinCenzo ended up falling back on several surprised fans in the Target Center of Minneapolis.
The brawl spread for about a minute. After calming their spirits, the referees reviewed the images and expelled five players: Holland, Isaiah Stewart and Marcus Sasser, the Pistons, and Divinzzo and Reid, of the Timberwolves.
JB BickerStaff, Detroit chief coach, and former Argentine player Pablo Prigioni, current Minnesota assistant technician, were also expelled.
“I saw nothing Paul did to deserve expulsion,” Chris Finch, Minnesota chief coach. “He was trying to maintain a conversation with the referee about one of his players, who is prone to these situations.”
“His bench, especially JB, had a problem with that and exchanged words,” he explained.
“His assistant coach said some things,” BickerStaff said in his turn. “I am on the same ship as my boys. We are going to defend each other and I will not allow people to say belligerent things about my boys.”
“He knows what he said,” he said. “You can’t say anything to people or about people and expect it to be fine.”
The Timberwolves stayed with the 123-104 victory with 26 points by Julius Randle and another 19 of the French Rudy Gobert, who captured 25 rebounds.
In another of Sunday’s eight games, the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated Los Angeles Clippers 127-122 and reached 60 victories in a season for the first time since LeBron James led them 15 years ago.
Cleveland, who has conceded 15 losses in the course, comfortably heads the Eastern Conference and its registration is only surpassed by the Oklahoma City Thunder (62-12), west leaders.
The Jarrett Allen pivot, with 25 points and 12 rebounds, this time was the local figure while Donovan Mitchell ended with 24 goals.
James Harden also signed 24 points for the clippers, who gave Kawhi Leonard rest.
In their 55 years of history, the ‘cavs’ had only arrived twice at 60 victories, both under the command of LeBron James in the 2008-2009 (66) and 2009-2010 (61) seasons.
At the close of the day, Kevin Durant retired injured in the overwhelming defeat of his Phoenix Suns 148-109 against the Houston Rockets.
The veteran forward was completely folded his left ankle in an entrance to the basket in which he stepped on the foot of Jabari Smith Jr., Houston’s pivot.
A prolonged durant leave, which will undergo medical tests on Monday, would be devastating for the aspirations of the Suns to get into the playoffs (‘Play in’).
– Results on Sunday at the NBA:
Cleveland Cavaliers – LA Clippers 127-122
NY Knicks – Portland Trail Blazers 110-93
Milwaukee Bucks – Atlanta Hawks 124-145
Minnesota Timberwolves – Detroit Pistons 123-104
New Orleans Pelicans – Charlotte Hornets 98-94
San Antonio Spurs – Golden State Warriors 106-148
Philadelphia 76ers – Toronto Raptors 109-127
Phoenix Suns – Houston Rockets 109-148
GBV/MA