The Oklahoma City Thunder had a routine victory against the lowly Washington Wizards on Saturday. However, they had to go through some obstacles to get the 132-111 win, as they had to play out the second half without Jaylin Williams, Ajay Mitchell, and Cason Wallace.
Justin Champagnie was the only Wizards player to get the boot. It was an obstacle that the Thunder could have done without, but thankfully, reigning MVP and Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a 40-point game that propelled the Thunder to victory.
The officials explain the Thunder's three ejections against the Wizards
Most people expected the Thunder to cruise to a victory, which they did. However, they had to face some trouble with the three ejections on their end of important players. With 27 seconds left before halftime, Williams and Champagnie started to get at each other, which resulted in a brawl.
Mitchell and Wallace got involved to break the fight, but it might not have been the best move because it kept escalating. This was one of the most surprising moments of the game, which led to three total ejections for the Thunder.
MORE:How the brawl transpired that led to four total ejections between OKC and Washington
Unfortunately for both teams, the brawl went into the crowd, which is a big no-no for the NBA. They already have experience with that type of event with the Malice in the Palace in the 2000s, so the officials made sure to reprimand the players who were involved.
"They were ejected for not acting as peacemakers and escalating the altercation... It was observed that Wallace pushed (Anthony) Gill into the altercation, and after falling to the floor, it was not observed that Gill did anything in an unsportsmanlike manner," Crew Chief John Goble said in a Pool Report about the Thunder's ejections.
Moving forward, this should be a lesson to Mark Daigneault and his Thunder players. They need to be more mature when it comes to physicality because they could get ejected and leave the Thunder short-handed. Further punishments are not handed out yet, but the NBA will probably address this again soon.
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