NBA: Five ejected in Magic v Timberwolves brawl, Suns shock Celtics

MINNESOTA – Five players were tossed from Orlando’s win at Minnesota on Friday, as the second National Basketball Association (NBA) brawl in as many days overshadowed Phoenix’s upset of the league-leading Boston.

The wild scenes in Minneapolis erupted in the third quarter in front of the visitors’ bench with an exchange between Magic’s Mo Bamba and Timberwolves guard Austin Rivers.

Bamba, the 2.13m centre, left his seat and traded punches with Rivers, sparking a scrum that had security trying to separate players.

It ended with Bamba and Rivers ejected along with Orlando point guard Jalen Suggs and Minnesota’s Taurean Prince and Jaden McDaniels.

“When someone gets up like that and gets in your face it can go one of two ways,” Rivers said, as quoted by Yahoo Sports.

“He threw a punch and it missed. And then Suggs, I think, grabbed me by my neck. That’s a big no-no.

“I feel bad that I got thrown out of a game and I feel like I let my team down and in the process, two other important players for our team got thrown out as well.”

Minnesota coach Chris Finch was unhappy that there were more Timberwolves players ejected and said that it was “pretty egregious” that Bamba just came off the bench and threw a punch.

Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley missed the start of the incident.

“I turned and looked back and it was just a lot of guys trying to pull guys away from each other and trying to keep our guys on the bench,” he said.

The Magic, who were leading 83-73 when hostilities erupted with 1min 32sec left in the third, went on to win 127-120, led by 20 points from reserve point guard Cole Anthony.

The brawl came a day after Memphis’ Dillon Brooks and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell were ejected after a shoving match that followed Brooks’ blow to Mitchell’s groin.

The NBA subsequently suspended Brooks for one game for sparking the confrontation and fined Mitchell US$20,000 (S$26,500) for his reaction.

In Boston, the Suns bounced back from a rout by Atlanta to beat the Celtics 106-94.

With Cam Johnson and Devin Booker sidelined by injury, Phoenix had looked unlikely to turn the tide two days after a 32-point defeat.

But the Celtics, owners of the best record in the league on 37-16, were held to less than 100 points at home for the first time since December.

Jaylen Brown scored 27 points but Jayson Tatum scored just 20 on dismal three-for-15 shooting as Boston connected on just 38.7 per cent of their shots from the floor.

Phoenix were led by 25 points from Mikal Bridges.

“I’m not really disappointed,” said Boston coach Joe Mazzulla.

“I think it’s about just managing the game. (Their) second unit does a good job of ending quarters and starting well, which we didn’t do that.

“We didn’t end the quarters well, we didn’t start the quarters well.” AFP