Bloody brawl shows a lot about Isaiah Stewart and the young Pistons

Maybe Isaiah Stewart was Justified?

In the initial scuffle, it looked like Stewart and LeBron would separate amicably. The two were not even shoving each other, just exchanging words. At one point, it looked like Stewart thought something said was even funny to him. And then everything went to hell.

Personally, I think the outburst was not warranted, based on all the videos I saw. I could not read Stewart’s lips for the most part, and there is no way to tell what LeBron said. But maybe James called Stewart something unforgivable in the heat of the moment, and maybe it wasn’t the punch that set Stewart off. There’s no way to tell yet if LeBron said anything, and it is just speculation, but based on the brief pause in the action before everything took off, I think LeBron may have crossed a line.

In the video below, you can definitely see James crack a joke right before the camera hops to an angle over his shoulder. Maybe what James thought was funny set Stewart off in ways we haven’t seen yet?

I highly doubt any professional would attempt an attack three times over a punch while going for a board. To be fair, Stewart was very much bloodied up so maybe the taste of his own blood set him off, there’s no way to know. Maybe something was said, maybe it was just a gross overreaction.

Hopefully, the spat is the spark the Pistons need to jumpstart a lackluster season. Hopefully, both parties receive the suspensions they deserve, although Stewart’s will no doubt be longer than LeBron’s. Both deserve to miss some games. Since the Malice at the Palace of 2004, Pistons fans have a reputation as unruly at best, but they heeded the warnings about staying in their seats, so at least the fan base looks good. At the end of the day, I still have more questions than answers, but it certainly showed off the fire this young team has burning.