Not so long ago, a contest against the Charlotte Hornets was not likely to meaningfully raise the heart rate of anyone on the opposing side. Maybe the sight of LaMelo Ball's unpleasant red tattoos would cause a moment's perturbation, but nothing acute, nothing to flush the face or crease the forehead. The basketball would be easy enough: For the most part you could wait around for the Hornets to defeat themselves. Not lately! Charlotte entered Monday night's home tilt against the Detroit Pistons having won nine straight and 12 of 15, and with a couple of eye-popping demolitions scattered in there. These are not the Hornets of yesteryear: These guys—healthy for what seems like the first time in 1,000 years—are athletic, feisty, and organized. They demand attention.
The Pistons treat everybody rudely. They might be the NBA's roughest bunch, and some of the league's also-rans seem to shrink from their snarling physicality. The Hornets did not. In the third quarter, with the Pistons leading by eight points, things were getting angsty. Following a Jalen Duren offensive foul, Ball threw some moves at Detroit's Duncan Robinson and drove to the lane, but lost his dribble and then was annoyed into a three-second penalty by the digging and swiping of Robinson and Duren. Ball complained and the crowd booed. On Detroit's next possession, Cade Cunningham tried to feed Duren in the paint but Moussa Diabate bumped Duren and batted the ball away, and the Pistons settled for a lousy Tobias Harris mid-ranger, which missed. The ball squirted out of bounds and Detroit kept possession. Duren and Diabate, both pretty fired up, chirped back and forth, and the Hornets broadcast chose a good time to talk about Detroit's bullying style.
On the inbound, Duren threw a mean forearm into Diabate's chest, then popped to the wing to gather the ball. Duren then attempted to drive at and through Diabate. Diabate, who looks very skinny next to Duren but I guess is pretty sturdy, stoned Duren at the edge of the paint. Duren lurched into an off-balance jumper and Diabate committed a dumb foul, grabbing onto his man's shoulder and tugging him down. The two squared up, with Duren's face crashing into Diabate's and then Diabate pushing his forehead into Duren's. This is when all hell broke loose.
Duren smushed Diabate's face with his right hand and then began a long retreat. I admire the reflexes that allowed him to yoink his face out of range of Diabate's haymaker left; he otherwise seemed most comfortable with a phalanx of trainers and coaches between him and several enraged Hornets. Miles Bridges either shoved or punched Duren in the initial fracas; seconds later, Diabate somehow escaped from a dense ring of peacekeepers to throw another wild punch at Duren along the sideline. Rookie Kon Knueppel pulled Diabate away, but then Bridges, who appeared calm, walked up to Duren near the center logo and fired another punch. This finally drew the attention of Detroit's Isaiah Stewart, who is famously the kind of player who would come running off the bench to throw punches. Stewart, in warmups, flew in from the bench, and not at all for the purpose of restoring peace.
That was the end of the worst of it. Diabate was pinned by cooler heads to the seats behind the baseline; Bridges was peeled from the melee and led to Charlotte's bench; Duren was at midcourt, but was still mostly nodding toughly. Stewart jogged away from the scene, but not before dooming himself to what will almost certainly be the longest suspension of anyone involved. The NBA hates it when benches clear. Charlotte's sideline personnel did a much better job of keeping their reserves corralled: At one point, during Stewart's incursion, Grant Williams seemed to want to rush out there, but hit the Star Fox boundary forcefield and pulled an immediate U-turn.
Duren and Diabate were ejected. Bridges escalated the conflict at least twice and was also ejected, and will probably be banned for a game or two. Stewart will be hit with the whole-ass book. His ill-considered bum-rush wasn't necessarily a source of inspiration for his teammates:
Charlotte's crowd was great, and the Hornets were spirited as hell. Knueppel hit some huge shots down the stretch to keep the score close, but the Hornets don't seem to have the personnel for stopping Cunningham, who finished with 33 points. A late Tobias Harris turnaround gave the Pistons some room, and some Charlotte sloppiness in the closing seconds robbed the game of a more dramatic climax. Hornets head coach Charles Lee missed the finish: He lost his cool protesting an offensive foul in the fourth quarter and was sent to the locker room, to join Diabate and Bridges.
This was a very fun contest, even around the brawl. Don't mind the scolds: The game lost a few players and the teams might be shorthanded for a few days, but now we have a by-God rivalry. The Pistons are the East's best team, and the Hornets are the East's hottest team, and there is every reason to hope these antagonists will meet again in the playoffs. I am willing to forfeit a little Beef Stew in the short term for a taste of primo aged beef down the line.
