These Charlotte Hornets have plenty of fight in them. Literally.
Instead of people remembering Monday night’s tilt for the Hornets’ chance to equal a feat that had only been accomplished once in franchise history, a third-quarter scrum and the ejection of coach Charles Lee headlined their 110-104 defeat to the Detroit Pistons at Spectrum Center.
Miles Bridges and Moussa Diabate along with Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart and Jalen Duren were ejected for fighting, marring what was an intriguing game between the top team in the Eastern Conference and the one featuring the NBA’s longest current win streak.
Rather than a storyline surrounding the Hornets’ quest for their first 10-game win streak since 1994-95, the supercharged atmosphere in the aftermath of the emotional fracas took over.
With the Hornets in a 70-62 hole, Duren and Diabate got tangled up inside the paint. Officials called Diabate for a foul. The two slowly approached each other and Diabate put his head down to butt up against Duren’s forehead, leading to Duren taking a slap and swipe at Diabate.
Diabate went right back at Duren, and a throng of bodies assembled. Diabate got incensed again and stormed toward Duren just in front of the crowd opposite the Hornets’ bench, leading to Hornets head of security Tony Datcher trying to hold Diabate back.
While that was happening, Bridges remained furious at Duren and pointed at him, which ignited another mini scrum. Stewart wasn’t in the game and came off the bench to confront Bridges, who tackled Stewart like they were in Super Bowl LX.
The wild night didn’t end there.
Lee was ejected in a separate incident, with 5:54 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Officials whistled the Hornets’ Grant Williams for an offensive foul against the Pistons’ Paul Reed, and Lee had seen enough, charging out onto the floor. Lee’s pronounced anger forced Brandon Miller to hold him back — he was that angry.
Lee wasn’t around, then, to see the Hornets nearly fully erase a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit, turning the reins over to assistant Lamar Skeeter to finish out one of the wildest craziest nights in uptown in recent memory.
This story will be updated.