The Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors faced off Tuesday night, and in the third quarter things got heated. As the Bulls extended their lead to 88-72, Robin Lopez and Serge Ibaka started firing punches under the basket.
Lopez and Ibaka throwing punches pic.twitter.com/CMe51Fe8Bq
— Stephen Noh (@StephNoh) March 22, 2017
Ibaka pushed Lopez in the back and then Lopez knocked the ball out of Ibaka’s hands. From there, the two started throwing punches, with Lopez throwing the first punch and Ibaka throwing the second. Both Lopez and Ibaka were immediately ejected.
Technical fouls were also handed out to Nikola Mirotic and Raptors assistant coach Jamaal Magloire for this exchange.
Nikola Mirotic getting into with a Raptors assistant coach pic.twitter.com/DD5h1tvn1M
— Chicago Sports News (@ChiSportUpdates) March 22, 2017
The Raptors had lost 11 straight games to the Bulls before rallying for this victory. The Bulls currently sit in 10th place in the Eastern Conference but only one game out of eighth place.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen actual punches thrown in an NBA game.
UPDATE: The NBA suspended Robin Lopez and Serge Ibaka one game each on Wednesday.