One night after the Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder engaged in a pretty standard brand of NBA pushing/shoving/non-fisticuffs, there were honest-to-goodness punches thrown with real-deal malice behind them in Toronto on Tuesday, when Chicago Bulls center Robin Lopez and Toronto Raptors forward Serge Ibaka got heated enough to throw hands late in the third quarter.
With the Bulls continuing their somewhat mystifying mastery over the Raptors, All-Star shooting guard Jimmy Butler splashed through a 3-pointer to increase the Bulls’ lead to 16 points, 88-72. As the ball went through the hoop, Raptors shooting guard DeMar DeRozan bumped Lopez backward into Ibaka. The Congolese big man didn’t appreciate that, and gave Lopez a shove in the lower back.
Lopez really didn’t appreciate that, slapping hard at the ball in Ibaka’s left hand and getting right in Serge’s face. They quickly squared off and grabbed a hold of one another, with Lopez firing off a pretty legitimate-looking right hand at Ibaka’s head, and just barely missing. Ibaka returned fire with a right of his own, but similarly appeared to just graze the side of Lopez’s head.
Players from both teams and the refs raced to the scene, with DeRozan pulling Ibaka back and to the ground, while Raptors swingman Norman Powell helped get opez clear of the fray. Ibaka quickly returned to his feet and began to make his way back toward Lopez, only to be grabbed by teammate P.J. Tucker and ridden all the way back into the backcourt, and out of harm’s way.
The refs convened and, without much need for deliberation, promptly ejected both Ibaka and Lopez. Ibaka finished with 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting with six rebounds and one assist in 26 minutes, while Lopez logged 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting, four rebounds, three blocks and one assist in 24 1/2 minutes. Chicago forward Nikola Mirotic and Raptors assistant coach Jamaal Magloire also briefly tangled in the scuffle, and received technicals for their troubles.
While neither player squarely connected with his right-hand shot — and, given that we’re talking about very, very big and very, very strong men, thank goodness for that — they’re both almost certainly going to receive suspensions of at least one game (and a fine of no more than $50,000) from the league office for hauling off.
Best part about Robin Lopez & Serge Ibaka taking turns swinging & missing: Means the suspensions won't be as severe pic.twitter.com/lmsjb0IWyE— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) March 22, 2017
The absences of two starting big men could have serious repercussions for Chicago and Toronto.
The Bulls will head home on Wednesday to take on the Detroit Pistons — the East’s No. 8 seed, and the team that 10th-place Chicago is chasing in pursuit of a playoff berth. The Raptors, meanwhile, get Wednesday off before traveling to Florida to take on the Miami Heat, the East’s ninth seed, and the other team the Bulls are chasing. With just one game separating the fourth-place Raptors from the No. 3 Washington Wizards, and only 1 1/2 games between the No. 7 Milwaukee Bucks and No. 10 Bulls, these two punches could wind up having a more significant impact on playoff positioning than they (again, thankfully) had on the skulls of their intended targets.
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