Five players and two coaches were ejected following a brawl during the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 123-104 victory against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.
The highly charged contest in Minneapolis broke into a physical altercation early in the second quarter, when Minnesota’s Naz Reid reacted to being bumped by Detroit’s Ron Holland during a dribble.
As the two players squared up to one another, members of both teams got involved and the exchange quickly descended into a melee which spilled into the spectator seats at court-side.
Team officials attempted to break up the players, as some spectators deserted their seats.
Even after the fight was broken up, tensions remained high as players from both teams continued verbal attacks on one another.
Officials decided to remove five players – Isaiah Stewart, Holland and Marcus Sasser from Detroit and Reid and Donte DiVincenzo from Minnesota – as well as Detroit head coach John-Blair Bickerstaff and Timberwolves assistant coach Pablo Prigioni.
In other games from Sunday the Golden State Warriors beat the San Antonio Spurs 148-106, the Atlanta Hawks stopped the Milwaukee Bucks 145-124 and the Houston Rockets beat the Phoenix Suns 148-109.
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