Festus Ezeli Suspended One Game, Apologizes for Altercation

In the Golden State Warriors‘ dominant 113-89 win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday, Festus Ezeli, who’s normally pretty mild-mannered, was involved in an altercation with typically hot-headed Tyler Hansbrough.

After fighting for rebounding position with Hansbrough with four and a half seconds remaining in the third quarter, Ezeli appeared to push or grab Hansbrough near the throat, which led to Hansbrough squaring off and pushing Ezeli away. The referees separated the players and immediately ejected Hansbrough. The referees needed several minutes of replay review to determine that Ezeli should be ejected too.

Here’s a video of the altercation:

After the game, Ezeli was asked about the altercation. Monte Poole of Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area with the report:

"“He kind of got in my face and . . . it’s not something I should bother myself with . . . yeah,” Ezeli told reporters after the game."

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr seemed to be pretty disappointed with Ezeli’s invovlement in the altercation. He spoke about this after the game with Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle and other reporters:

"“He’s hardly played,” Kerr said. “One of the reasons we played him (Friday) is that our defense hasn’t been good, and we wanted more rim protection when (Bogut) went out. He did a really good job in the first quarter. I wanted to play him most of the fourth quarter, but he got tossed at the end of the third, and all of those minutes go down the drain. It was a shame.”"

The NBA reviewed the play after the game to determine if either player should be fined or suspended. On Saturday, NBA president of basketball operations Rod Thorn announced that Ezeli would receive a one-game suspension without pay. Thorn also announced that Hansbrough would not be suspended, since it was Ezeli who initiated the altercation.

This one-game suspension will cost Ezeli $13,572, as that is the amount he would have made in the Warriors’ game today against the Boston Celtics.

At Saturday’s practice, the Warriors pulled a prank on Ezeli by creating a fake news release stating that Ezeli had been suspended six games. The “news release” even had a fake quote from Bob Myers.

Ezeli posted a photo on Instagram today with this apology for his behavior in Friday’s altercation:

"I realize I have fans and friends from all over and of all ages supporting me and that’s part of what pushes me to the Best I can be. Now what happened the other day was very out of character for me. That was unacceptable. Violence is never the answer and I want to apologize to everyone (warriors organization, teammates & coaches, friends & fans, and Most especially, family). I let you guys down and it won’t happen again"

So what does this all mean for Ezeli and the Warriors? Although the suspension is just one game, it will still affect the Warriors and their plan today against the Celtics.

Kerr was planning on not playing starting center Andrew Bogut in today’s matchup with the Celtics, in order to give Bogut some extra rest at this point in the season and near the end of a long six-game road trip. Now with Ezeli suspended, Bogut will most likely have to start today, as Ezeli is the backup center and would’ve started or seen the majority of the minutes at the center position.

Next: Warriors Mailbag: Curry, Ezeli, Kerr

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