The Magic and Hawks both expected to take leaps into contention in the Eastern Conference this season, but when the two teams met on Tuesday night in Atlanta, they were both 3-4 and still trying to hit their strides.
One of the main reasons for optimism in Orlando was the acquisition of Desmond Bane in a trade with the Grizzlies, but the career 40.8% 3-point shooter has been ice cold at 28.6% to start the season. On Wednesday night, with the Magic once again struggling to score and trailing the Hawks by 14 in the third quarter, Bane’s frustrations boiled over with a hard foul on Onyeka Okongwu in transition that earned him an ejection.
Bane was hit with a Flagrant 1 for the foul itself and then had a technical foul added for spiking the ball into Okongwu’s head as he went to the ground, which combined to earn him an ejection from the contest. After the game, Bane wasn’t exactly remorseful about his ejection.
“Hard foul,” Bane said, via ESPN. “I mean, we talk about that, no easy baskets. Nothing at the rim. Make them see the lights and hard foul. I swiped at the ball, and it happened to hit him and they made the call that they made.”
The foul was one thing, but the addition of throwing the ball off Okongwu’s head was the more egregious part of the sequence from Bane. The Hawks would make all three free throws — one for the technical and two for the flagrant — and then hit a 3-pointer to make it a 6-point possession that pushed their lead out to 20.
Orlando tried to make a late push, but ultimately lost, 127-112, to drop their record to 3-5, which is tied for 10th in the East with the Hornets and Celtics 10 percent of the way into the season.
