After a fight that appeared to leave a player temporarily unconscious, 3 NBA players were ejected from the game

Three NBA players were removed from Wednesday’s game after a fight brokeout on one of the benches. It appeared that one of them was temporarily incapacitated.

The Orlando Magic’s Moritz Wagner was ejected for a flagrant foul after starting a fight during the first half of the team’s match-up against the Detroit Pistons, which the Pistons won 121-101.

ESPN reported Wagner “appeared to briefly get knocked out by a punch to the back of the head” from the Pistons’ Killian Hayes.

Wagner and Hayes were chasing the ball towards the end of the first period, when Wagner bumped Hayes’ side into the Detroit bench.

The Pistons’ Hamadou Diallo ran in and aggressively checked Wagner into the bench.

Moments later, Hayes regained his balance after falling over some chairs and threw a punch at the back of Wagner’s head, who then “slumped over and appeared to be unconscious,” The report stated.

Hayes and Diallo were both expelled for their involvement in the altercation.

Franz Wagner, Moritz’s younger brother, said that his brother was “fine” After the incident.

Things heated up between Magic and Pistons😳 pic.twitter.com/5IiZBoBZYx

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 29, 2022

Jamahl Mosley, Magic head coach, is also available said Wagner was present at a postgame conference “fine.”

“We’ll have to go back and look at the film to see exactly what happened,” Mosley spoke. “I was just concerned about my guys that were down on the [Pistons’] bench, down there, making sure they got away from that side. … Moe Wagner was still on the bench underneath everyone. Markelle [Fultz] was in there trying to help Moe Wagner out, so it was my responsibility to get our players away from the problem. It was not me trying to be restrained, I was trying to make sure our players were taken care of.”

Dwane Cassiy, head coach of the Pistons, spoke out about the fight following the game. He said that he was unhappy with the behavior of the players.

“I was upset because my understanding of the rule is the fact that when you leave your bench to go get in the altercation, your are escalating it,” Casey stated. “My thing is the words being said by their players and coaches that were not de-escalating the situation and the official, to his credit, he said he did not hear it. Okay, I understand that, but for them not to have anyone ejected.”

“I got to go back and get an explanation because my understanding of the rule is that if you leave the bench, and you go down and get involved, that’s how bad things start, really bad things. I didn’t feel like they were de-escalating the situation.”

After his Pistons win a huge bounce-back victory, coach Dwane Cassy speaks to us. This is the end of a six-game skid. #DetroitBasketball pic.twitter.com/dG0K5NWOQa

— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) December 29, 2022

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