Dwight Howard was disqualified in the biggest fight in the Chinese Taipei basketball tournament

When the match between Taoyuan Leopards and Taiwan Beer Herobears (in the professional T-1 League) came to the last minute, the score was settled when the team of former NBA champion Dwight Howard (Taoyuan Leopards) took the lead. up to 18 points ahead.

It was thought that the competition would end in peace like every other blow-out match, when suddenly a scuffle broke out. A player on the Leopards side, Chen Hsiao-Jung, had a very rough and obvious bad situation.

He elbowed the opposing player Herobears captain Chiang Yu-an. Immediately a quarrel broke out and turned into a scuffle when players from both sides rushed into each other.

Even an assistant of the Taiwan Beer Herobears Club, Lin Chieh-ho, rushed into the field and punched Chen Hsiao-Jung after the bad play. This action of assistant Lin opened the door for a series of substitutes of the two teams rushing into the field to quarrel.

It took a few minutes for the referee and the security team to bring the situation under control. The video shows a lot of punches being thrown by both sides.

With a cool and calm head, Dwight Howard did not participate in the scuffle at first, standing still in the technical area of ​​Taoyuan Leopards. But as the group of agitators approached, Howard stepped into the yard to intervene.

The match was suspended for nearly 20 minutes for the referees to review the video. The penalty was then decided with a total of 12 players sent off and expelled from the field, including 5 members of Herobears and 7 Leopards players.

As for Howard, he was one of the seven players who were disqualified from Taoyuan. Despite the good intentions of dissuading and attempting to cool off hotheads, NBA champions are still penalized for entering the field while a fight or explosion is taking place (according to FIBA ​​rules).

Before being sent off, Howard had scored 28 points, 14 rebounds and 7 assists, greatly contributing to Leopards' victory. Naturally the American bigman was not satisfied with the referee's decision.

"I only intended to intervene and did not participate in any quarrel or fight, I don't understand why the referees sent me off the field," Dwight Howard told a local news site.

Currently, Taoyuan Leopards is at the bottom of the T-1 League table with only 4 wins in 14 matches. Three of the four wins for Howard and his teammates came in the last three appearances.