Players from the Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks both engaged in a brief altercation towards the end of the first quarter in Game 6 on Friday. Double technicals were handed out to two sets of players, but the bigger question is whether several Wizards who stepped onto the floor will receive one-game suspensions headed into Washington’s next game.
Wizards players could be suspended after stepping onto court during scuffle
We don’t expect them to be suspended, but it has happened once before.
The play started when Bradley Beal broke out for a full-court dunk and was unnecessarily bumped by Kent Bazemore, which caused him to spill into the photographer’s row. Beal takes offense, yelling at Bazemore, and both sides do a bit of pushing and shoving.
The referees handed out technicals to Beal and Jason Smith on Washington, as well as Bazemore and Taurean Prince for Atlanta. (Smith and Prince exchanged some shoves after this gif ends, which is why they were lumped into the punishment.)
But the bigger issue is how strict the NBA will be with their longstanding rule that players who step onto the floor during a scuffle will automatically receive a one-game suspension. Infamously, Amar’e Stoudemire was suspended from Game 5 of the 2007 Western Conference semifinals after he did it. You can clearly see from the screenshot that Marcin Gortat and Markieff Morris have moved from the bench to the court.
However, both did that before Beal pushed Bazemore, and they quickly retreated back to the bench after that happened. Likewise, in another angle you can see John Wall at least one step onto the court, though he didn’t make it much further than that.
By the strictest letter of the law, yes, this could warrant a suspension. Clearly, though, any subjective look at the situation should give the offending players pardon from NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
Washington’s next game will either be Game 7 against the Hawks attempting to close out the series, or Game 1 of the semifinals versus either Boston or Chicago. They couldn’t afford the potential loss of three starters in any situation. In all likelihood, though, they won’t have to worry about that.
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