Detroit — One aggressive hip-check by Moritz Wagner caused a chain reaction full of consequences.
The Magic forward and former Michigan Wolverine was ejected during the second quarter of the Pistons’ 121-101 win on Wednesday night after nudging Killian Hayes out of bounds and into the Pistons’ bench area.
Chaos ensued from there.
Detroit wing Hamidou Diallo, who was well on his way to his best performance of the season, rushed to Hayes’ defense and shoved Wagner into the arms of Isaiah Stewart. Hayes, who doesn’t usually show much emotion, retaliated with a forearm to the back of Wagner’s head.
From there, players and coaches from the Magic’s bench rushed over to the scene of the altercation and the officials tried to neutralize the situation by separating both teams.
Longtime Pistons PA announcer John Mason immediately issued a warning to the fans inside Little Caesars Arena, just in case anyone had thoughts of re-creating the events from the infamous “Malice at the Palace,” from Nov. 19, 2004.
“Nobody move. Stay in your seats,” Mason said. “The moment you move, you’re going to jail.”
After a 10-minute delay, the officials assessed flagrant-2 penalties to Wagner, along with technical fouls to Hayes and Diallo, and all three players were ejected from the game.
With 33.2 seconds remaining in the first half, Magic forward Paolo Banchero and Pistons center Nerlens Noel exchanged technical-foul shots and the period eventually ended shortly after as Detroit went into the break with a 19-point lead.
Pistons coach Dwane Casey was visibly upset following the altercation and explained his perspective during his postgame press conference.
“I was upset because, from my understanding of the rule, when you leave your bench to go get in an altercation, you’re escalating,” Casey said. “My thing is, the words being said by their players and coaches that were not de-escalating the situation. The official, to his credit, said he didn’t hear it. OK, I understand that, but for them to not have anyone (from their bench) ejected, I gotta go back and get an explanation.”
According to Rule 12A, Section VII, of the NBA rulebook, “During an altercation, all players not participating in the game must remain in the immediate vicinity of their bench. Violators will be subject to suspension, without pay, for a minimum of one game and fined up to $50,000.”
Since the escalation occurred at the Detroit bench, it’s unlikely that anyone from the Pistons’ sideline will be suspended, aside from Hayes and possibly Diallo.
However, seven Magic players — Cole Anthony, Mo Bamba, Kevon Harris, R.J. Hampton, Admiral Schofield, Wendell Carter and Franz Wagner — left their bench and ran over to the Pistons’ bench, a clear violation of Rule 12A.
Magic coach Jamahl Mosley, who also had to be restrained during the altercation, was asked about his concern level for possible suspensions after the game.
“We have to go back and look at the film to see exactly what happened,” Mosley said. “I was just worried and concerned about my guys that were down there on the bench, down there making sure they got away from that side.”
“I honestly don’t want to talk too much about it,” Wagner’s brother, Franz Wagner said. “Emotions are high in these games. People are going to look at the film and determine what’s right to do. It’s tough for us, especially in front of that bench, seeing one of our teammates have that happen to him.”
Pistons forward Saddiq Bey, who tied his season-high with 28 points off the bench, lauded the way Diallo and Hayes handled the situation despite the outcome.
“We’re competitors,” Bey said. “I like how Hami and Killian responded. I like how Hami had Killian’s back. (The Magic) had their guys’ back so we’re going to have our guys’ back. For us, it was good for us to try to refocus after that and try to come together because we had the momentum.
“We wanted to make sure that after all that happened we could refocus because we kind of had that (situation) last year, as well. It was important for us to regroup, but everybody in the locker room, there was a lot of morale because we had each other’s back. It was great to see.”
The situation Bey referenced was an altercation between Stewart and LeBron James last season. Stewart suffered a bloody gash over his right eye after taking an elbow from James. The situation, which happened on the court, escalated when Stewart repeatedly pursued James before he was finally restrained. As a result, Stewart was issued a two-game suspension and James was suspended for one game.
Stewart, who was on the bench at the time of the incident, kept his composure during the Pistons’ latest incident.
“I was looking at Isaiah Stewart and he was like, ‘Hands back, hands up,’ Casey said. “He wasn’t touching anybody, wasn’t looking at anybody and saying anything, to his credit.
“But that’s what I was worried about, also, how were we going to respond after halftime, after having that long delay? Emotions were high and I thought we came out the right way. They made an excellent run and we responded to that run.”
Still, Casey wants an explanation for Wednesday’s events. He’ll likely get it once Pistons icon Joe Dumars, who also serves as the league’s head of basketball operations, which includes conduct and discipline, has a chance to review the film.
“My understanding, when you leave the bench, and you go down and get in a fray like that, that’s how bad things start. Really bad things,” Casey said. “It could’ve been worse. I didn’t feel like they were de-escalating the situation.”
mcurtis@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @MikeACurtis2