It was a second that moved from drama to comedy.
Magic middle Goga Bitadze taunted Celtics ahead Kristaps Porzingis considering the Latvian hooper was being ejected, solely to search out out that he was the one being kicked out of their groups’ sport in Orlando, Fla., after a fourth-quarter altercation between the 2.
The Orlando huge man appeared to seize at Porzingis’ throat, and Magic teammate Jalen Suggs bearhugged Porzingis to maintain issues from escalating at Kia Middle on Monday.
Moments later, Bitadze appeared to suppose Porzingis was getting proven the door early and began taunting him from the Magic bench, however he was rapidly made conscious that he had been ejected.
One in every of his teammates seemed again at him and appeared to inform him what the state of affairs was.
A shocked look then got here throughout Bitadze’s face, and he seemingly requested if he was the one ejected after which begins to stroll away dejectedly.
Bitadze completed the sport with eight factors, 9 rebounds and three assists earlier than he was kicked out.
Porzingis and Suggs each obtained technical fouls from the incident, however Porzingis didn’t suppose the entire state of affairs was all that critical in the long run.
“Just competing. Started talking a little bit, and we went face-to-face, and we just kept on talking,” Porzingis mentioned to reporters about it. “And Bitadze came from the side and kind of shoved me. Of course, I reacted to that. Just a normal, some NBA action. Nothing serious, just competing and it’s good that nobody got thrown out from our side. We just kept playing.”
The Magic ended up holding on for a detailed 108-104 win over the defending NBA champions.
Trevelin Queen completed the sport with 17 factors for Orlando within the win.
Celtics star Jaylen Brown scored a game-high 35 factors on the night time.
