Marquese Chriss suspended one game for altercation with Serge Ibaka

According The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Cavs forward Marquese Chriss has been suspended for one game following his altercation with Raptors forward Serge Ibaka on Monday. Ibaka was suspended three games by the league. the Both Chriss and Ibaka were ejected from the game, which the Cavs won 126-101.

Losing Chriss leaves the Cavs thin up front for tonight’s game against the 76ers. Larry Nance Jr., Tristan Thompson and John Henson are all out due to injury. It’s also unclear if Kevin Love will play on the second half of a back-to-back. If all five bigs are out, that means a lot of minutes for Ante Zizic, a lot of David Nwaba and Cedi Osman at the four spot and a lot of smaller lineups out of sheer necessity.

It also is not surprising that Chriss has been suspended considering he threw a punch. It would have been more of a shock, frankly, if Chriss avoided any punishment. That being said, it’s hard to see what else he was supposed to do when Ibaka came at him other than defend himself.

The Cavs and 76ers tipoff tonight at 7 p.m. in Philadelphia.