The Charlotte Hornets and the Detroit Pistons made headlines with their third-quarter brawl on Monday night.
After the game, Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown reacted to the sequence on his live stream. The veteran forward had a strong reaction to Jalen Duren's first move, which truly sparked the entire incident.
"Headbutt! Oh, he mushed him! That is disrespectful," Brown said of Duren. "If a dude takes his hand and mush you in your face like that, I ain't gonna lie, somebody gotta ***."
Duren and Moussa Diabate went at it, with Miles Bridges coming over and getting involved. Players, coaches, and security from both sides join the officials in attempting to break up the action.
While Duren eventually backed away from the scene, cameras caught Bridges going at him. Apparently, Isaiah Stewart did as well. The veteran center was not on the court when the game was in play. Therefore, he was not allowed to leave the bench area without punishment. Stewart still got involved and was quickly ejected from the game.
Duren, Bridges, and Diabate followed. Not long after, Charlotte's head coach, Charles Lee, was fired up at a charging call against the Hornets, which led to his ejection as well. The heated matchup ended with a 110-104 victory for the Pistons.
Brown and the Celtics trail the Pistons by 5.5 games on Tuesday. Detroit improved its record to 39-13 with the victory over the Hornets, and they'll head into the All-Star break with an Eastern Conference-leading record. The Pistons will face the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday.
It's unclear who will miss the action. Duren and Stewart are expected to face a potential punishment from the league for their involvement in the major scuffle. While Detroit's head coach JB Bickerstaff was wholeheartedly convinced his team did not start the incident, Brown and his streaming mates saw it differently.
If the NBA takes the same side as Brown, then the one-time All-Star center could miss some time moving forward.
Newsweek