Isaiah Stewart may have been wrong but I get it. And love it.

The Pistons fighting the Lakers like the old days

During the Bad Boys era, this Isaiah Stewart “fight” might not have even drawn a technical foul, as those kinds of things happened practically every game.

Just google “Bill Laimbeer punched in face” to see what I mean.

The league rightfully tried to clean this stuff up after the Malice in the Palace, which showed what can happen when things really get out of control.

I don’t necessarily miss all of the hard fouls and cheap shots, but I do miss the rivalries.

Many young Pistons’ fans don’t even hate the Lakers or Celtics because they’ve grown up in this version of the league where players aren’t allowed much physical contact.

Rivalries are what make sports fun, and the lack of them is why many fans spend more time talking about the offseason than they do the actual games. The lack of rivalries gave birth to the dreaded “Stan” culture where fans follow individual players more than teams. I miss the days when teams hated each other which led to super competitive games.

This should kickstart the Pistons/Lakers rivalry and I love that.

I also love that this Pistons team is getting tired of losing, getting tired of teams coming into their building and pushing them around with impunity. I wish Stewart hadn’t gotten ejected, but I love that he stood up for himself.

Ultimately the Pistons lost the game because of the brawl, so it didn’t work in their favor, and Isaiah Stewart was wrong to lose his cool and let his team down, but I get it, and I love it.

Glad my Isaiah Stewart jersey is in the mail and I’ll be wearing it with pride.