Sometimes, it’s just not fair living in Minnesota. Nothing really rhymes with Minnesota, Minneapolis, or Target Center, especially when it comes to fighting. Even adjectives for Minnesota don’t rhyme well. Freeze, cold, arctic – it seems like nothing can create the box office name for a memorable fight in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
It just isn’t fair. Detroit’s infamous brawl in 2004 became the Malice at the Palace. Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier III was the Thrilla in Manila in 1975. Ali vs. George Foreman was the Rumble in the Jungle a year earlier.
The good people of Minnesota are missing out. There just isn’t a good rhyme for the brawl that occurred Sunday night during the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 123-104 victory over the Detroit Pistons.
Minnesota got off relatively easy. Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo only received a one-game suspension. On the Detroit side, Ron Holland and Marcus Sasser received one game, and Isaiah Stewart received two for his role. The suspensions could be considered on the light side, given how the fight unfolded and its risk to fan safety.
Fans have likely seen the brawl at this point.
Reid took exception to an open-floor layup foul Holland committed. Holland stepped into Reid’s personal space as Reid wagged his finger in disagreement. DiVincenzo had previously been getting under Detroit’s skin. In response, he flew in to defend Reid. DiVincenzo, Holland, Reid, Sasser, and Stewart took the fight into the first two rows of fans in the ensuing pandemonium.
The fight became dangerous to spectators. Stewart crowd-surfed over bodies to get to DiVincenzo, who was defending himself while seated atop a fan. Reid found himself pinned under multiple bodies to the floor. As the brawl finished, even coaches got into the skirmish, which resulted in the ejections of all five players, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, and Wolves assistant Pablo Prigioni.
The fight spilling into the fans is unacceptable. It’s a risk for fans, including children, who could be injured as multiple bodies flew into their seats. It’s also to the players. One wrong step could have resulted in a player stepping on Reid. A chair giving out could have resulted in DiVincenzo crashing to the floor. It’s dangerous, and thankfully, no one in the kerfuffle was injured besides some bumps and bruises.
The unpredictability and fan aspects of the entire fight are likely why the league assessed the penalties the way they did. Looking to historical penalties also must have played a hand as the last crowd-related fight was the 2006 Denver Nuggets-New York Knicks brawl seen below. Seven players get suspensions, and the three biggest players in the fight miss 10 or more games.
With seven games remaining, the Wolves are clinging to the seventh seed thanks to owning the tiebreaker against the LA Clippers, due to the Wolves holding a 3-0 season lead. However, the Wolves find themselves half a game behind the Golden State Warriors for the sixth seed. The Warriors own the tiebreaker in the case that the two teams finish with the exact same record. The Memphis Grizzlies are only one game ahead of the Wolves at this point for the coveted fifth seed, and the two teams play each other on April 10.
Minnesota’s suspensions have come at a crucial time. The Wolves are battling to stay out of the Play-In Tournament and need every advantage they can get. If there is a silver lining, the brawl sparked Minnesota in a convincing win over the Pistons and could have been the boost the team needed to continue in their dominant 11-3 stretch since the calendar turned to March.
