The referee made the final decision after watching the footage.

Howard, Westbrook, and Artest all had to be given second-degree malicious fouls and directly ejected from the game, while Ibaka and Blake were given first-degree malicious fouls, and the ball was given to the Thunder, and after the penalties were offset, they had the opportunity to make two free throws.

However, at this time, Tang Tian's focus was obviously not on the field.

In the second half of the fourth quarter, after the two sides began to send substitute players to practice, Tang Tian asked Wharton to direct on the spot, and then left the court early to go to the hospital.

On the way there, Tang Tian and Stevens spoke on the phone.

The good news is that Harden's condition is not too serious, with an initial diagnosis of only a minor concussion, and he is now recuperating in the hospital room.

After Tang Tian arrived, because the doctor told Harden to recuperate at this time, he didn't go in again, and sat at the door with Stevens.

"No one expected this to happen." Stevens couldn't help but speak.

Tang Tian nodded, he had been in the NBA for more than six years, and it was the first time he had encountered a really vicious brawl.

Seeing Harden knocked to the ground by an elbow, he also wanted to rush forward at the time, but he knew that the consequences of rushing up were likely to be the end of the Thunder team, so he endured it.

"Ding!"

Just then, his cell phone rang.

He picked it up and saw that it was sent by Artest.

"I'm sorry, coach, how is James?"

Tang Tian hesitated for a moment, but still replied "It's not a big deal" to go back.

Putting down his phone, he couldn't help but let out a long breath.

Artest elbowed Harden, and this thing that happened in his previous life still did not escape.

He turned his head to look at the ward, and he didn't know if Harden would change back to the "Eye Deng" in his previous life.

"Let's go back first, it's useless to sit here, James estimates that he will be able to return to the team after two days of rest in the hospital." Tang Tian said and stood up.

Stevens nodded, and the two of them went back to the hotel.

Because it was an away game, Tang Tian visited Harden in the hospital the next day.

Artest also went to the hospital, he apologized to Harden, this tough guy couldn't get rid of the habit of rushing to the top, but unlike in his previous life, he was Tang Tian's old department after all, and he was also full of guilt about Tang Tian's relationship.

Tang Tian didn't say anything, he couldn't make a big deal or something small just because Artest was his old department, how to deal with Artest's apology depends on Harden's attitude.

Harden finally accepted Artest's apology, but it can be seen that he still has some backlash, and if the elbow goes up a little more to the temple, it will not be such a simple matter as a slight concussion.

Soon after Tang Tian returned to Russia with the Thunder team, the league made a final judgment on the Thunder Lakers' on-court brawl.

Artest was suspended for 15 games, Howard and Westbrook were suspended for 10 games, Ibaka and Blake were suspended for five games, Gasol, Kobe, Durant and Dio were all banned for two games for the brawls on the other courts, and the suspended players also received different tickets.

Nine people were suspended for a total of 53 games and fined more than 300,000 yuan, which is the second-largest fine in NBA history after the Auburn Palace brawl.

And the number of penalties is even higher than that of Obeng, which means that the Lakers and Thunder will not have a starter in at least 2 games.

After the fine came down, neither the Thunder nor the Lakers appealed, although the punishment was very serious, but everyone knew that today, when the global promotion is getting better and better, there is such a bad incident, and it must be an example to kill the chickens and monkeys.

And what is more challenging for the Thunder is that Harden needs to recuperate for about a week, and the Thunder will only have nine players on the court for the next two games (Turiaf is absent due to injury), and there are only three players left in the normal rotation.

This is definitely the biggest challenge in Tang Tian's coaching career.

The Thunder's next two opponents are the Grizzlies and the Nets, and the two teams are currently in the fourth or fifth place in the East and West divisions, and neither team is easy to mess with.

"The Spurs are chasing us from behind, and if we lose these two games in a row, we're going to be more passive." Stevens raised concerns at the coaches' meeting, and what he didn't say was that even if Ibaka and Harden couldn't play in the past two games, the Thunder would still have a big challenge in the games ahead.

"We're going to win both." Tang Tian didn't say much, but he was very confident.

Tang Tian's attitude did make the coaching staff build up a lot of confidence.

In the following time, the regular meeting discussed the tactics and rotation of the lineup for the next two games.

After the regular meeting, the Thunder's coaching staff and the nine-man Thunder got on the plane to Memphis.

It was the Thunder's first game since brawl time, and almost all of the sports media focused on Memphis.

On the one hand, how the nine-man Thunder team will play, and on the other hand, they also want to know if the Thunder will fall from a championship team to the bottom like the previous Pacers.

The media paid extra attention, and the fans naturally focused their attention.

"I still don't think the Thunder will be another Pacers, after all, Westbrook, who has been punished the most, has only been banned for 10 games, which is different from when the three main cores of the Pacers were banned for more than 100 games, and they are not the one to stir up trouble."

"I also don't think the Thunder will be the Pacers, and they will be the championship favorites again next month, and the only thing to worry about is that they need to be in good form before the preseason comes."

"Yes, but I'm afraid the Thunder team will not have a good time recently, don't even think about winning the last two games, lose by less than 20 points, and win."

"That's right, the Grizzlies and the Nets, including the Clippers and Nuggets they will face later, are all teams in the top four in the West, and if they lose by less than 25 points, they will win."

……

Amid the attention of fans and the media, the game between the Thunder and Grizzlies kicked off at FedEx Arena.

The ball market in Memphis is average, but the attendance rate of the arena tonight still reached about 9 percent.

Although the situation is different, it is still very popular to be able to witness the protagonist abusing the first place in the west and competing for the big hit.

The Grizzlies' opening ceremony was filled with raw wildness that matched the team's culture quite well.

In the explosive cheers of the fans at the scene, the starters of both sides were introduced one after another.

On the Grizzlies' side, Conley and Tony Allen are on the outside, Prince and Zach Randolph are on the front, and Marc Gasol is at center.

Before the trade deadline, the Grizzlies sent away Gay in exchange for Prince and Ed Davis, and the team entered the full two-bear era.

The Grizzlies' starting lineup is a regular lineup, and the nine-man Thunder's starting lineup is more curious in comparison.