A scrap between players from the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night spilled out into the fans and led to multiple ejections.
The incident occurred in the second quarter with about 8:36 left in the first half. Pistons forward Ron Holland II slapped the ball out of T’Wolves forward Naz Reid’s hand after he committed a foul. Reid wagged his finger at Holland while speaking to him, and it was on from there.
T’Wolves guard Donte DiVincenzo stepped in between the players and grabbed Holland’s jersey as the group moved into the fans seated near the baseline. Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and T’Wolves head coach Chris Finch were each on the court trying to cool tensions down.
As the players were separated, Minnesota assistant coach Pablo Prigioni and Bickerstaff began to scream at each other and had to be separated.
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“Obviously things went too far,” Bickerstaff told reporters. “But what you see is guys looking out for one another, guys trying to protect one another, guys trying to have each other’s backs. … Those are non-negotiables in our locker room.”
Five players and two coaches were ejected from the game, including Bickerstaff, Holland, Reid, DiVincenzo, Prigioni, Pistons guard Marcus Sasser and center Isaiah Stewart. The game itself featured 12 technical fouls, the most in an NBA game since March 23, 2005, according to OptaSTATS.
“I thought leading up to that the game was way too physical,” Finch said. “It’s unfortunate, but we knew they were a super physical team. They hit you, they hold you, all the stuff that you want your physical teams to do. But I just thought it got to a point where players were going to take matters into their own hands. You don’t ever want that.”
Minnesota took home the win, 123-104.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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