Jalen Duren and Moussa Diabate spark massive brawl, leading to multiple ejections in Pistons’ win over Hornets
The second half of Monday night’s contest between the Charlotte Hornets and the Detroit Pistons was full of chaos at the Spectrum Center.
A group of four players and Hornets head coach Charles Lee didn’t make it to the end of the Pistons’ 110-104 win in North Carolina.
Things first erupted midway through the third quarter of the game after Hornets forward Moussa Diabate fouled Pistons center Jalen Duren as he was going up for a shot in the middle of the lane. The two got face-to-face after the foul was called, and words were exchanged briefly, before Duren shoved Diabate in the face hard.
That set Diabate off. He charged at Duren, and things immediately escalated into a huge altercation that took several assistants and officials to break up. Diabate tried to swing at Duren as he was being held back, then he broke away to charge at Duren again.
Eventually, after Diabate was pulled away, Miles Bridges charged at Duren and threw a punch. That prompted Isaiah Stewart — who wasn’t even in the game at the time — to run in off the bench and scuffle with Bridges. A second scrum then moved over toward the team benches while officials then had to separate that group.
Eventually, officials got things back under control. After a long review, Diabate, Bridges, Duren and Stewart were all ejected from the game. The league is sure to assess further penalties in the coming days, too.
The Pistons led 70-62 at the time.
Hornets coach Charles Lee ejected, too
Though he wasn’t involved in the first incident, Lee was ejected from the game midway through the fourth quarter.
Hornets guard Grant Williams was called for an offensive foul after he charged into Paul Reed near the top of the key, which sent Reed down to the court. Williams didn’t have the ball at the time, and seemed a bit confused by the call.
But Lee wasn’t having it. He lost it on the sidelines and started screaming at the officials. He was held back by Williams, Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball as he continued lighting up the referees. Lee was quickly thrown out of the game.
“I take ownership of it … I thought it was a very physical game,” Lee said, via The Associated Press’ Steve Reed. “Grant’s walking down in pain and barely touched somebody and the guy fell over, and that’s what we were gonna call a foul. Again, they have a hard job to have to make these calls, but I don’t think that that was like the consistency of what had been called the rest of the game.”
Lee is in his second season leading the Hornets this season, which marks his first head-coaching job in the league.
The Pistons, who led nearly the entire way in the second half, ended up holding on down the stretch for the six-point win. Cade Cunningham led the way with 33 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Duncan Robinson added 18 points. The Pistons now sit at 39-13 on the season.
Miller led the Hornets with 24 points in the loss, which snapped a nine-game win streak. Kon Knueppel added 20 points and five rebounds, and Ball finished with 20 points.
