I am frustrated. As a Magic fan, I have dealt with all kinds of frustrations – bad lineups in crucial game moments, hyping up players that wouldn’t even sniff a roster elsewhere, and the never-ending Jonathan Isaac saga. But, after the league announced the suspensions for the Magic/Pistons altercation that took place on December 28th, I am more frustrated than I have been all season.
Let me start of by saying that I do not condone Moe Wagner’s behavior. He’s no Grayson Allen but he does a good job getting into people’s head. Just recently he made Al Horford so frustrated that Al swung for his jugular! So, I get what he stands for. A hustle guy that tries to frustrate opponents into playing worse. In this instance, though, he was wrong. There was no need to hip check a guy. Even if it wasn’t that hard, he could have easily just stuck an arm out and “boxed” him out. That being said, Killian Hayes is a POS.
Moe gets two games for a hip check – a move that has been used before and resulted in flagrant fouls, not suspensions – and Hayes gets a measly three games for punching a guy in the back of the head. 2x MVP Nikola Jokic received a ONE game suspension for his hit on Markieff Morris – a hit that knocked Morris out for a long time.
Next up is the bench suspension. I get it, I know the rules. The rules are dumb and should be reviewed on a case-to-case situation. Franz Wagner didn’t even walk all the way to the bench and gets suspended a game. The Magic players were not over there pushing and shoving. They were trying to get their teammate that had just been sucker punched out of there. The Pistons get off with no repercussions just because the altercation happened in front of their bench. I am so annoyed just typing this! It’s an antiquated rule that needs to be updated. There is no reason a bench that is not fighting should be punished so severely.
Overlooked by many, former “Bad Boy” Pistons guard Joe Dumars was the overseer of these suspensions. Conflict of interest, anyone? Fine, here are my biased suspensions:
Killian Hayes leads the way with a 5 game suspension for throwing a punch that is illegal in professional fighting.
Diallou can keep his one game.
The Magic bench keeps their suspension as that is the rule (upon further review Bamba was getting a little heated)
The Detroit bench gets suspended too for being in the mix. I mean, that’s only fair, right?
Moe gets nothing. He had his punishment already.
Finally, I wrap up with this. The Pistons postgame team on Bally Sports Detroit are both trash. They played the ol’ “I don’t condone violence, but in this circumstance it’s okay” card and looked like idiots doing so. Here is the link to watch for yourself.
Yes, my emotions wrote most of this. I don’t care. I am fed up with the Magic always getting the blunt end of the stick. We’ve been down for so long, can’t we have some good come to us? Maybe JI will come back soon. Ha! What a dream…
Commenti