A fight that included multiple players and saw punches fly broke out during the Magic’s matchup with the Timberwolves on Friday night at the Target Center.
The scuffle started in front of Orlando’s bench when Timberwolves guard Austin Rivers missed a three. He and Magic center Mo Bamba then confronted each other.
Bamba stood up off the bench and appeared to throw a punch. Video showed Rivers fighting back before the melee spilled over to the court.
Magic guard Jalen Suggs pulled Rivers away from Bamba and slung him to the court. Then, Jaden McDaniels and Taurean Prince joined the wild scene, and it turned into a full-team fracas. After officials reviewed the play, five players were ejected from the game: Minnesota’s Rivers, Prince and McDaniels, and Orlando’s Bamba and Suggs.
Friday’s altercation comes one night after Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks and Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell were both ejected for fighting in Cleveland’s 128–113 win. That scuffle began when Mitchell took a shot below the waist from Brooks’s left arm, and the two were tangled. Brooks was suspended one game and Mitchell was fined.
Watching Friday’s fight, the Cleveland guard tweeted, saying “NBA script been crazy recently,” along with a clip from the 2005 comedy “The Longest Yard.”
Orlando went on to defeat Minnesota 127–120.