CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) 鈥� A fight between the Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets in the third quarter of Monday night’s game, resulted in four player ejections.
Charlotte鈥檚 Moussa Diabate and Miles Bridges were tossed, along with Detroit鈥檚 Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart. Hornets coach Charles Lee was ejected in the fourth quarter after he had to be restrained from going after an official while arguing a call.
The . The loss ended the Hornets鈥� bid to match a franchise record with 10 straight wins.
Duren had the ball and was driving toward the basket with just over seven minutes left in the third period when he was fouled by Diabate. Duren turned around to get face-to-face with Diabate and the two appeared to butt heads. Duren then hit Diabate in the face with his open right hand, starting a confrontation that lasted more than 30 seconds and ultimately ended with a brief police presence on the floor.
While Pistons forward Tobias Harris was holding Diabate back, Diabate threw a punch at Duren. Duren walked away and Bridges charged at him, throwing a left-handed punch. Duren retaliated with a punch. Diabate attempted to charge again at Duren and had to be held back.
Stewart left the bench to confront Bridges, who responded with a punch, and the players tussled. At one point, Stewart got Bridges in a headlock and delivered mutiple left-handed blows to his head.
Duren called it an “overly competitive game.”
鈥淓motions were flaring,鈥� Duren said. 鈥淎t the end of the day, we would love to keep it basketball, but things happen. Everybody was just playing hard.鈥�
Duren said that opposing NBA teams have been trying to 鈥済et in our head鈥� all season.
鈥淭his isn’t the first time that people have tried to be like extra aggressive with us and talk to us, whatever the case may be,鈥� Duren said. 鈥淏ut as a group we have done an OK job of handling that energy and intensity. At the end of the day, emotions got high with everybody being competitive. Things happen.”
Duren did not say how the fight started, referring reporters instead to the video replays.
The Hornets did not make Bridges and Diabate available for interviews after the game.
However, Bridges took to Instagram late Monday night to say: 鈥淪orry Hornets nation! Sorry Hornets Organization.! Always gonna protect my teammates forever.鈥�
鈥淚t looked like two guys got into a heated conversation and it just kind of spiraled from there,鈥� Lee said.
Crew chief John Goble said in a pool report after the game that the players were ejected because they “engaged in fighting activity during the dead ball. After review, we assessed fighting fouls and by rule they were ejected from the game.鈥�
Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff defended his players after the game.
鈥淥ur guys deal with a lot, but they鈥檙e not the ones that initiated, they鈥檙e not the ones who crossed the line tonight,鈥� Bickerstaff said. 鈥淚t was clear, through frustration, because of what J.D. (Duren) was doing, that they crossed the line. I hate that it got as ugly as it got.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 not something that you ever want to see,鈥� Bickerstaff added, “but if a guy throws a punch at you, you have a responsibility to protect yourself. That鈥檚 what happened tonight. If you go back and watch the film, they鈥檙e the ones who initiated crossing the line and our guy had to defend himself.鈥�
Tensions continued to mount at the Spectrum Center after the fight.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Lee was ejected and had to be restrained by Hornets guard Brandon Miller while yelling at officials for a no-call after Charlotte’s Grant Williams collided with Detroit鈥檚 Paul Reed.
鈥淕rant was walking down the paint and barely touched somebody and the guy fell over and that is what we are going to call a foul,鈥� Lee said. 鈥淭hey have a hard job to make these calls, but I don’t think that was the consistency with which that had been called the rest of the game.鈥�
As for being ejected, Lee said he has to have more control of emotions moving forward.
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