The Florida team won their first game of the season, but everything was overshadowed by the fight between Christian Koloko and Caleb Martin.
After an adverse start to the championship, with two consecutive losses at home, Miami got his first victory in the 2022/23 season of the NBAby winning at home by 112 to 109 to Toronto. But the celebration was overshadowed by the embarrassing fight between Christian Clockrookie center for the Heat, and Caleb Martinforward of the Raptors, who, fortunately, fortunately did not go to majors, but ended with the two players sent off.
The incident occurred with 7:46 to go until the end of the third quarter and Miami led the scoreboard by a wide margin, 81 to 59. After a missed shot at the hoop by Pascal I’m sorry, who was looking to discount for the Canadian franchise, Martin and Koloko went looking for the rebound. After a hard fight for the ball, the Heat – who had committed a foul – went to the ground. His rival went to confront him and that’s where the fight broke out.
The images of the transmission show that, after getting up, Koloko threw a fist into the American’s back.. Martin, totally taken out, responded with a sort of tackle rugby player, caught the Cameroonian below the waist and knocked him down against the row of chairs, which is just behind the hoop.
Immediately most of the players from the two teams rushed out and started pushing each other, although it seemed that everyone’s intention was to separate Koloko and Martin and avoid a larger confrontation. Meanwhile, a couple of spectators, who had been “trapped” under the two giants -the African measures 2.16 meters and the North American, 1.96-, tried to escape.
The fight was over pretty quickly – without injury to any of the basketball players or the fans – and the game was suspended for a few minutes, while the referees analyzed the images to fully understand what had happened. Ultimately, the two players were ejected from the game and, according to US media, the league is also expected to sanction him with a suspension of one or more games.
“It was an aggressive game. That’s usually the game with Toronto, aggressive back-and-forth. But ultimately I think emotions were high and it was a close, back-and-forth game. Overall, I have to be more professional in how to handle those kinds of situations,” Martin, 27, said in remarks reproduced by ESPN.
“He just stood there looking at me like crazy. I just got up, I don’t know,” Koloko, 22, recalled. “I stood up for myself and got sent off. That’s what happened tonight.”
After the embarrassing episode, which quickly went viral on social media, the game continued. The Raptors, who were down 24 points, were able to regain confidence and close the gap to 92-83 at the end of the third quarter. The reaction came thanks to Siakam and Gary Trent Jrleading a 24-11 run in seven minutes for Toronto.
But despite the reaction of the Canadians, there was never a feeling that Miami was going to miss the game. The coach rotation Erik Spoelstra with his outside men he continued to work and add points in a fluid way, and the locals -with Jimmy Butler (scorer with 24 units) in the lead, they were finally able to seal their first win of the season, since they had just lost two straight games at home, 116 to 108 against Chicago and 111 to 109 vs. Boston.
The Raptors, meanwhile, will have a chance for revenge this Monday, when they face the Heat again in Miami.
