It was the moment when we transitioned from drama to comedy.
Magic center Goga Bitadze taunted Celtics forward Kristaps Porzingis because he thought the Latvian Hooper would be ejected, but an altercation in the fourth quarter resulted in both teams playing in Orlando, Florida. It turns out that he was the one who was kicked out of the game.
Looks like Orlando's big man got it. Magic teammate Jalen Suggs gave Porzingis a bear hug to prevent the situation from escalating at Kia Center on Monday.
Shortly after, Vitadze appeared to think Porzingis would be ushered in early and began taunting him from the Magic bench, but soon realized he had been ejected.
One of his teammates looked back at him, seemingly telling him the situation.
A shocked look appeared on Bitadze's face, and he appeared to ask if he had been kicked out, before walking away looking disappointed.
Vitadze finished the game with eight points, nine rebounds and three assists before being sent off.
Porzingis and Suggs received technical fouls for the incident, but ultimately Porzingis didn't think the whole situation was that serious.
“Just competing. We started talking a little bit and we sat across from each other and just kept talking.” Porzingis told reporters about it. “Then Vitadze came from the side and shoved me. Of course I reacted to it. Just normal NBA action. Nothing serious, just competing. And nobody It's good that we didn't get kicked out of our side. We just kept playing.”
In the end, the Magic narrowly won 108-104 against the defending NBA champions.
Trevelin Queen finished the game with 17 points in Orlando's victory.
Celtics star Jaylen Brown scored a game-high 35 points that night.
