SI:AM | Benches Clear in Ugly Fight Between Pistons and Hornets

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In today’s SI:AM:
🥊 Big NBA fight
🏀 Court rules against Alabama
🏈 Best Super Bowl LXI matchups

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Tempers flare in Charlotte

Four players were ejected after a brawl broke out during Monday night’s Pistons-Hornets game in Charlotte.

With about seven minutes left in the third quarter, Charlotte’s Moussa Diabaté fouled Detroit’s Jalen Duren on a drive to the hoop. Duren then headbutted Diabaté and swiped his hand across Diabaté’s face. An incensed Diabaté went after Duren, and the situation escalated from there.

The tension briefly appeared to be resolved, but then Diabaté broke free from the clutches of the people who had been restraining him (including Detroit’s Tobias Harris) and charged at Duren again. Hornets forward Miles Bridges added fuel to the fire when he threw a punch at Duren. Pistons center Isaiah Stewart responded by coming off the bench to tussle with Bridges. (Bridges had also shoved Duren in the initial incident under the basket.)

Diabaté, Duren, Bridges and Stewart were all issued fighting fouls and ejected from the game. Detroit went on to win, 110–104.

All four players should face fines up to $50,000 and potential suspensions, as per the NBA rulebook.

“It looked like two guys got into a heated conversation and it just kind of spiraled from there,” Hornets coach Charles Lee said.

The Pistons maintained that it was the Hornets who started the fight.

“Our guys deal with a lot, but they’re not the ones that initiated. They’re not the ones that crossed the line tonight,” Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff told reporters. “It was clear, through frustration because of what [Duren] was doing, that they crossed the line. I hate that it got as ugly as it got; that’s not something that you ever want to see. But if a guy throws a punch at you, you have a responsibility to protect yourself. That’s what happened tonight.

“You go back and watch the film, they’re the ones that initiated crossing the line. Our guy had to defend himself.”

Duren echoed his coach’s suggestion to watch the tape, declining to tell reporters what caused the fight.

“I guess the film will tell,” Duren said.

Bridges posted an apology on Instagram after the game, writing, “Sorry Hornets nation! Sorry Hornets Organization! Always gonna protect my teammates forever.”

As for Stewart leaving the bench to join the fray, Bickerstaff said Stewart was seeking to protect someone he has a close relationship with.

“We don’t want to see it get to that point. When you go back and watch the film, they ran multiple guys at [Duren],” Bickerstaff said. “J.D. and Stew consider themselves to be brothers. If you run two guys at one guy and you’ve already crossed the line, human instinct tells him to protect his little brother. … I hate it for Stew, because of the things that are going to follow, but we weren’t the ones that crossed the line and initiated this.”

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The top five…

… things I saw last night:
5. The chaotic final minute of the Grizzlies-Warriors game.
4. LaMelo Ball’s inexplicable brain fart where he forgot to inbound the ball.
3. Indiana senior Lamar Wilkerson’s 41 points against Oregon.
2. Louisville freshman Mikel Brown Jr.’s 45 points against NC State. That tied the Louisville program record and broke Cooper Flagg’s ACC freshman record.
1. The final two minutes of Kansas’s home upset over No. 1 Arizona. The Wildcats’ loss leaves Miami (Ohio) as the only undefeated team in men’s college basketball.