JB Bickerstaff reiterated that the Detroit Pistons acted in self-defense during their melee against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night, where a shoving match broke out after Moussa Diabate fouled Jalen Duren on his layup attempt with less than eight minutes left in the third period.
After Diabate and Duren got into it, Miles Bridges got involved when he swung at Duren, which prompted Isaiah Stewart to leave the bench and confront Bridges. After a review by the referees, Diabate, Duren, Bridges, and Stewart were ejected from the game, and they may incur suspensions from the league office.
“Our guys deal with a lot. They are not the ones who initiate. They are not the ones who crossed the line tonight,” Bickerstaff said via The Detroit News’ Coty M. Davis. “It was clear through frustration with what JD was doing that they crossed the line. I hate that it got as ugly as it got. That is not something you want to see. But if a guy throws a punch at you, you have a responsibility to protect yourself. That’s what happened tonight.”
“When you go back and watch the film, they threw multiple guys at JD — JD and Stew consider themselves brothers. If you run two guys at one guy, and you already crossed the line, human instincts tells him to protect his little brother. I hate this for Stew because of the things that will follow (likely suspension), but we were not the ones who crossed the line tonight,” he added.
Detroit Pistons News: Paul Reed sends clear message to team after on-court fracas vs. Charlotte Hornets
With Isaiah Stewart and Jalen Duren ejected, the Detroit Pistons had to play Paul Reed more than usual. The 26-year-old center did well to fill in during the victory, having contributed 12 points, three rebounds, and two steals on 3-for-5 shooting from the field and 5-for-8 shooting from the free throw line in 18 minutes of action.
“I’m pretty sure everyone wanted to help JD out, even the guys on the bench. We got each other’s back 100,000%. But we gotta play basketball, we gotta win games, and, you know, we can’t just crash out,” Reed explained in his postgame interview. “Somebody’s gotta stay poised and stay in the moment and understand what’s at stake.”
“It says a lot about our grit and our resilience,” Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham added. “There was a lot of emotion to the game; fans were into it. For us to stay together and pull through, this is a great win for us.”
