An ugly fight broke out last night between the Pistons and the Hornets, involving two of each team’s players: Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart against Moussa Diabate and Miles Bridges.
Social media lip reader ‘LegendZ productions’ subsequently posted a video on various social media platforms, bringing new details to light on what really went down that led to the massive brawl, which eventually required arena security and benches to intervene on the court.
With seven minutes left in the third quarter, the Pistons’ new All-Star Jalen Duren seemingly did not like how Diabate was holding him while boxing him out on rebounds and addressed it with an official. Following which, he warned Diabate not to repeat that.
A few seconds later, Diabate fouled Duren hard on a shot attempt, which appeared to infuriate Duren.
“You are a b***h,” Duren seemed to say as he palmed Diabate’s face while pushing him away, thus triggering a brawl with a disrespectful gesture. Diabate was furious at Duren and tried to punch him multiple times while chasing him.
“I’m gonna kill you, motherf**ker,” he appeared to repeatedly shout as security and teammates began holding Diabate back. Miles Bridges, who is Diabate’s teammate, saw this incident up close and took it personally. He also began yelling at Duren and eventually started swinging.
“A’ight n***a, watch this n***a, watch this,” Bridges seemingly said as he approached Duren to punch him. Isaiah Stewart saw this from the Pistons’ bench and charged at Bridges, eventually holding him by his head with a fist full of hair.
The two were also eventually separated as Cade Cunningham and Ausar Thompson of the Pistons forced Stewart away from the scuffle. Cunningham also cooled Duren down, who was ready to square up while trash-talking the Hornets’ bench.
On the other side, LaMelo Ball and Kon Knueppel, along with the security team and coaching staff members, were holding Diabate back, who was fuming and ready to fight Duren.
“F**k that n***a, you’re good bro,” Ball seemingly said to Diabate on the Hornets’ bench as others tried to cool him down. Grant Williams, the Hornets’ veteran, was reminding his teammates that leaving the bench to get involved in fights on the court usually amounts to a player suspension in the league.
All four players, Duren, Stewart, Bridges, and Diabate, were ejected from the game as the Pistons had the last laugh with a 110-104 win to snap the Hornets’ nine-game winning streak.
“Y’all expect me to stay on the bench? You know I’m built for this sh**. What the f*** was I drafted in Detroit for?” Stewart was recorded saying as he walked back to the locker room.
While Diabate apologized for his actions, Duren spoke to the media after the game and blamed the incident on human nature.
“This is an overly competitive game, emotions flaring. At the end of the day, we would love to keep the basketball, but you know, things happen. Everybody’s playing hard,” he said.
“Yeah, I mean, as a year been going on, you know, teams like to try to get in our head. I think this isn’t the first time something like people have tried to be extra aggressive with us, talk to us, and whatever the case may be.”
“But I think as a group, we’ve done an okay job of kind of handling that energy and intensity. But I mean, at the end of the day, as I said, you know, emotions get high, everybody being competitive, we’re all men, so things happen,” concluded Duren after the incident.
According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, while all players involved in the incident are prone to fines, punishments, and suspensions, Isaiah Stewart is likely to be suspended for leaving the bench to join the scuffle.
He may even miss as many as 10 consecutive games due to this, especially due to being a player with a record of being involved in similar situations. Meanwhile, Jaylen Brown seemingly blamed Duren for starting the fight.
The Pistons improved to 39-13 as the first seed in the East and will face the Raptors in Toronto for their next game. Meanwhile, the Hornets fell to 25-29 and will host the Hawks in Charlotte in their next matchup.
Who do you think is at fault here? Should Stewart be suspended for protecting his teammate? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
