WASHINGTON – Top overall draft pick John Wall, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Juwan Howard were ejected after a skirmish during the second quarter of the Wizards' game against the Heat on Wednesday night.
Washington guard Wall, who is listed at 6-foot-4, moved over to the 3-point line to play tight defense on Miami center Ilgauskas, who is 7-3. While protecting the ball, Ilgauskas appeared to elbow Wall in the face at least once. Wall responded by swinging his right hand at Ilgauskas.
As officials went to intervene, Wizards center JaVale McGee arrived to separate Wall and Ilgauskas and was pushed away by Heat backup forward Howard. At the same time, Wizards coach Flip Saunders left the sideline and stepped on the court to try to pull away McGee, then began yelling at Howard.
It all happened with the Wizards leading 37-36, and with 8:48 left in the second quarter.
The game was delayed by several minutes while officials huddled around a TV to watch replays. Eventually, Wall and Ilgauskas each was assessed a flagrant foul-2 and ejected. Howard was called for a technical foul and ejected for escalation; McGee was called for a technical but allowed to stay in the game.
Wall high-fived fans as he walked from the court to the home locker room, ejected for the second time from an NBA game. It also happened Feb. 4, when he was called for two technical fouls in a loss to the Orlando Magic.
On Thursday, Wall had two points — leaving him five shy of becoming Washington's first rookie with 1,000 since 1994-95 — and five assists in 15 minutes.
Ilgauskas had two points in 2 minutes, while Howard was scoreless.
Howard, who used to play for Washington, also was involved in a flare-up between the Wizards and Heat in November. In that game, Washington's Hilton Armstrong flagrantly fouled Miami's Joel Anthony. Howard then pushed Armstrong in the back, and they both were ejected.
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