Pistons-Hornets game brawl leads to four ejections: Here's what we know

A furious brawl between the Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets on Monday night, February 9, resulted in four players being tossed from the game.

In the brawl that began in the third quarter, there was a turnout in the ejections of Charlotte’s Moussa Diabate and Miles Bridges, along with Detroit’s Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart.

While in the fourth quarter, the Hornets’ coach had faced a similar ejection, going after a match official while confronting an official over a disputed call.

Detroit’s Jalen Duren, however, didn’t say a word about how the fight broke out, only insisting on the video replay instead.

Calling the brawl an “overly competitive game,” Durren said, “Emotions were flaring. At the end of the day, we would love to keep it basketball, but things happen. Everybody was just playing hard.”

Duren stated that opposing NBA teams have been using psychological tactics to disrupt his team’s focus all season.

He said, “This 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.”

“But 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. Everybody was just playing hard.”

How did the brawl result in four NBA ejections?

The brawl broke out when the Hornets’ Moussa Diabate committed a hard foul against Pistons center Jalen Duren with seven minutes left in the quarter.

This was followed by a heated exchange of words, which began when Duren hit Diabate in the face, and Charlotte forward Miles Bridges pushed Duren in the face after a rebound.

Diabate threw a punch at Duren, and then coaches and teammates intervened to hold him back, as reported by the Detroit Free Press.

Pistons forward Tobias Harris also attempted to hold Diabate back.

Shortly after, Bridges knocked toward Duren. Pistons forward Isaiah Stewart, who was on the bench, rushed the floor and threw wild punches at Bridges.

Although none landed, Stewart locked Bridges into a headlock. What followed was the climax of the brawl, when players from both benches rushed onto the court to break it up.

The Detroit Pistons won the game by 110-104.