A massive scuffle during the fourth quarter of the Charlotte Hornets’ home game against the Orlando Magic Thursday night resulted in the ejection of three players.
Two of the players ejected were Orlando’s Robin Lopez and Admiral Schofield. Lopez waved to the crowd, which booed him derisively, as he walked off the court and toward the locker room.
The third player ejected was Charlotte’s Montrezl Harrell, who was the Hornet most involved in the scuffle. All three players were assessed technical fouls after a lot of pushing and shoving between the two teams, which caused the fans in the Spectrum Center to rise to their feet in unison. Charlotte guard Terry Rozier later jokingly likened the confrontation to something you would see on “WWE.”
Charlotte guard LaMelo Ball said he tried to play the role of peacemaker. He grabbed Harrell and walked him away from trouble, after Harrell and Lopez had briefly engaged in shoving.
“I was just trying to get the game over,” said Ball, who led the Hornets with 26 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and four steals. Harrell, who had 14 points on 6-for-6 shooting and a plus-minus of plus-31 before his ejection, wasn’t made available to the media.
The game was delayed close to 10 minutes as the officials reviewed the videotape, and fines will likely ensue.
The incident occurred with the Hornets leading, 108-83, with 7:45 left in the fourth quarter. It began when the Hornets’ Jalen McDaniels committed what was later determined to be a common foul. McDaniels was also assessed a technical for his role in the scuffle, but wasn’t ejected. Neither team shot free throws as a result of the confrontation, since the technicals evened out (two per team).
Charlotte won, 128-101, to improve to 41-39 in the regular season with two games left. The Hornets are guaranteed a spot in the NBA’s play-in tournament next week and currently sit 10th in the Eastern Conference.
Hornets coach James Borrego was cautious in his assessment of the fracas afterward, saying he had yet to see a full replay. He said the officials told them that the three ejected players were “instigators, and they took the instigators out of the game.”
Added Borrego: “There are two teams competing out there. We’ve got to keep our heads about us…. Obviously we’ve got to be smart in those situations, but we’ve still got to be aggressive. You know, there’s no back-down from this team. So there’s a fine line there.”