Detroit Pistons All-Star guard Cade Cunningham.
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Detroit Pistons All-Star guard Cade Cunningham is voicing his thoughts on the Charlotte Hornets brawl and picking a side.
The Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets engaged in a brawl on Monday night, February 9, and the post-game fallout is all the talk in the NBA. Now, Pistons All-Star guard Cade Cunningham is voicing his thoughts on the brawl and picking a side.
The fight was so intense that it resulted in four players getting ejected, according to NBA research, including Charlotte’s Moussa Diabate and Miles Bridges and Detroit’s Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart. As it that wasn’t wild enough, following the ejections, Charlotte Hornets head coach Charles Lee was also ejected in the fourth quarter after an argument with a referee on a call.
It was a close game to the end, but the Detroit Pistons prevailed with a 110-104 final score. So, what does Cunningham think about the incident?
Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons Comments on Brawl With Charlotte Hornets
After the game, reporters asked Cunningham in the locker room about the brawl. He sided with his teammates but also tried to stay neutral.
“I saw the two guys come together. The headbutt was what it was,” a shirtless Cunningham told reporters. “JD was just trying to defend himself. Obviously, everybody in the NBA, we’re all high-level athletes.”
Cunningham added, “Anybody coming at you, a grown man coming at you that way, you want to defend yourself. But there’s a lot going on. I can’t act like I just had the best view of everything. But I thought we tried to defend ourselves, and we move on.”
When asked about the Pistons pulling off a close win in such a physical game, Cunningham said, “I think it says a lot about our grit and our resilience. It was a lot of emotion to the game. Fans were into it. But for us to stay together and pull it through was a great win for us.”
Cade Cunningham Praises the Detroit Pistons’ Depth: ‘We Got a Really Deep Team’
The incident also meant the Detroit Pistons had to rely on their depth, and Cunningham also discussed how the team’s players on the bench helped in this time of need.
“We got a really deep team, a lot of guys that wait on their number to be called and they step up, and they’re ready,” Cunningham explained. “Tonight was another night of that. Paul Reed doesn’t play the whole first half, doesn’t play up until that moment.”
He continued, “JD’s playing well, Stu’s playing, and for him to step in and be another big presence that adds a lot to the game just says a lot about his character and his mindset going into the game.”
Also, following the brawl, Bickerstaff spoke with reporters about the incident. He was supportive of his team and didn’t back down, and followers in Detroit are eating it up. It’s obvious he’s sticking up for his players.
“Duren and Stew consider themselves to be brothers,” Bickerstaff said pf the brawl in a postgame press conference. “If you run two guys at one guy and you’ve already crossed the line, human instinct tells him to protect his little brother.”