Bulls' Robin Lopez Suspended 1 Game For Fight With Raptors' Serge Ibaka
By Cody Westerlund--
(CBS) Bulls center Robin Lopez and Raptors big man Serge Ibaka have each been suspended one game for fighting in Chicago's 122-120 overtime loss at Toronto on Tuesday night, the league announced Wednesday.
Raptors assistant Jamaal Magloire was also fined $15,000 for pushing Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic during the scrum.
Lopez will miss the game when the Bulls host the Pistons on Wednesday night.
"Robin Lopez is one of the most if not the most popular guy on this team," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "He's a guy that goes out and approaches his job the same way every day. He goes to work. He never complains. He does what's asked of him. Also if you asked them, they'd tell you he's as passionate of a guy as we have on this team as well.
"He's got a fire to him that you just don't ever want to take away. This game gets very competitive obviously, it gets heated at times. That happened last night. It's unfortunate what went down, but we've all got Robin's back. I think everybody in this organization, from the players all the way to up top, has Robin's back. We'll deal with it and move on."
Lopez and Ibaka were ejected after throwing punches at one another with a little under four minutes to play in the third quarter. Lopez appeared to take issue with Ibaka backing into him, and the situation escalated after Lopez swatted the ball away from Ibaka. Lopez took the first swing, and Ibaka responded.
Neither punch landed.
Lopez's absence against the Pistons is particularly costly. Detroit center Andre Drummond is second in the NBA in rebounding (14.0 per game) and has long given Chicago trouble with his physicality in the paint. The Bulls also could be missing backup center Cristiano Felicio after he a hard fall in Tuesday's loss. The Pistons (34-37) are ninth in the East, while the Bulls (33-38) are 10th. Detroit would clinch the head-to-head tiebreaker against Chicago with a win as well, as it currently holds a 2-1 lead in the season series.
Lopez had been the only Bull to play in all 71 games this season, starting all of them. He's averaging 10.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks.
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. He's also the co-host of the @LockedOnBulls podcast, which you can subscribe to on iTunes and Stitcher. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.
