Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart are expected to be punished by the NBA for fighting with Charlotte Hornets players, but Detroit Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff wants people to know that his guys were not at fault.
Four players were ejected on Monday after a fight broke out in the middle of the third quarter. Duren and Stewart were tossed out alongside Moussa Diabate and Miles Bridges after exchanging punches. The Pistons won the game, 110–104, snapping the Hornets’ nine-game winning streak.
Bickerstaff is not happy that punches were thrown. However, he is not going to throw his players under the bus and explained that things would not have escalated if the other party had not started anything.
"Our guys deal with a lot. They are not the ones that initiated. They are not the ones that crossed the line tonight," he told reporters after the game (via Coty M. Davis of Detroit News).
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"It was clear, through frustrations, because of what JD is doing and they crossed the line. I hate that it got ugly as it got. That's not something that you ever wanna see but if a guy throws a punch at you, you have the responsibility to protect yourself. That's what happened tonight."
Bickerstaff also made sense of what Stewart did. The Pistons center stormed the court even if he was not part of the five on the floor. The coach said Duren and Stewart consider themselves brothers and so, Stew had to rush in after seeing his teammate all alone against multiple people.
Bickerstaff also anticipates that Beef Stew will be punished heavy.
"I hate it for Stew because of the things that are gonna follow. Again, we weren't the ones who crossed the line."