Isaiah Stewart is not someone I would want to punch in the face. In fact, I would actively avoid punching him in the face by almost any means necessary. LeBron James seems to be a smart and sensible man on and off the basketball court, and yet he punched Stewart. And to be honest, it looked intentional, or at least he intended some degree of malice.
You can decide for yourself, but King James definitely wanted to make some contact with Beef Stew’s face.
Stewart, rightfully so, took exception to LeBron hitting him with a cheap shot. The yelling and the mild shoving were deserved, but the attack that Stewart waged was not. Stewart ran after James three times, knocking over coaches and teammates in the process until he was finally grabbed and dragged into the locker room by what looked like the entire team. You can watch the full altercation here, although if you’re sensitive to blood maybe just take my word for it that it was quite the scuffle.
As you can see, it took nearly everyone in the arena to hold Stewart back. There’s a lot to be said about the fight and what it means for the Pistons, here are some things that stand out.
Isaiah Stewart is a Bad Man
And I mean that in the best way possible. Was it childish and dangerous to keep attacking the most famous athlete in America? Yup, it was, but if he can tone down the anger and just play some physical basketball it’s a sign that Beef Stew can be a hero in Detroit for a decade.
It takes a lot of gall to run after someone after being stopped twice, but he did just that. Clearly, Stew is not afraid to throw his body around in the paint to get some rebounds, and anyone doubting if his size can make him a real threat in the paint just needs to watch him go after LeBron, no individual could have stopped him at all. Detroit has a history of embracing enforcers on the basketball court. Bill Laimbeer is a Pistons legend, mostly for altercations just like this.
The era of tough basketball filled with fights has been over for nearly 20 years. In fact, it died in Detroit after the Malice. But as with any contact sport, people get hit and people get hurt, and some people chose to retaliate. Be it worth it or not, emotions run hot. It’s good to know that potential stars like Cade Cunningham and Killian Hayes (who I’m holding out will be the next Jason Kidd) have a fearless big behind them.