The Spurs extended their winning streak to nine games tonight as they snapped the Pistons’ five-game win streak with a 114-103 win in Detroit. During the second quarter of the intense game, a scuffle broke out in a corner when Cade Cunningham shoved Stephon Castle to the floor for simply guarding him too physically in the corner.
Keldon Johnson gets a technical for simply standing up for his teammate. 🙄 pic.twitter.com/DQJPcMMsUm
— SpursRΞPORTΞR (@SpursReporter) February 24, 2026
The two-time All-Star’s behavior was unlike his calm and collected self as the Spurs began putting the clamps on him tonight. Keldon Johnson took offense to Cunningham’s actions and began confronting Cunningham when Jalen Duren got involved and began pointing back at Johnson aggressively while saying something that triggered a short scuffle before the officials eventually intervened.
Both Keldon Johnson and Jalen Duren were assessed technical fouls, while Cunningham only got the offensive foul for pushing Castle. NBA fans saw this incident and took to social media to express their opinions on the incident.
“How Cade escaped a tech here is absolutely insane.”
“Somebody needs to make a picture book of @NBA rules so the @DetroitPistons aren’t so confused on the court.”
“That was ridiculous, and Cade just gets a common foul for that. Really?”
“Can’t believe Cade didn’t receive a tech.”
“Two-hand shove from Cunningham should have been a flagrant at minimum.”
“Cade is just mad Stephon locking his a** up.”
Various such reactions flooded the internet as fans believed Cunningham avoided a penalty he deserved for a foul he committed on Castle, which started the incident altogether.
The Spurs put the clamps on Cade Cunningham tonight, who finished the game with 16 points, 10 assists, six rebounds, two steals, and three blocks. He shot 5-26 from the floor (19.2 FG%) and 2-9 from beyond the three-point line (22.2 3P%).
Following the game, Stephon Castle spoke to the media and addressed the incident.
“I guess. I was just trying to make it tough for him, not trying to let him get an easy catch,” said Castle on whether he got into Cunningham’s head early in the game.
“And I feel that sparked a lot of energy on our team, too, because we’re not going to back down from a moment like that. So that happened early in the game, and that sparked energy for our guys as well,” Castle further added on the impact of the incident.
“I wouldn’t expect any less from KJ or anybody else on our team, no matter who got pushed to the ground. I mean, that’s just how close we are,” concluded Castle on how his teammates responded in his defense during the incident.
Castle finished the game as one of two players on the Spurs with a double-double tonight (with Victor Wembanyama). He had 16 points, 11 assists, four rebounds, one steal, and one block while shooting 7-16 from the field (43.8 FG%) and 1-1 from beyond the arc (100.0 3P%).
The Spurs improved to 41-16 after tonight’s win, and the Pistons fell to 42-14 for the season. After hosting the Spurs tonight, the Pistons are set to host the Thunder on Wednesday in a clash between the top teams in each conference. Meanwhile, the Spurs are headed to Toronto to face the Raptors on Wednesday (January 25) as well.
