The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Detroit Pistons Sunday, but the win wasn’t the headline of the game.
In the third quarter, LeBron James and Pistons center Isaiah Stewart got into a scuffle that turned bloody. It boiled over and involved players and personnel from both sides trying to calm Stewart, who tried to rush James on multiple occasions after James’ left elbow hit Stewart during a box out.
Anthony Davis, who was on the court during the situation, explained what happened.
“Everyone in the league knows LeBron’s not a dirty guy,” Davis said after the win. “In fact, when he knew he hit him, as soon as he did it, he looked back at him like, ‘Oh, my bad. I didn’t try to do it.'”
Davis continued on how no one on the team would let Stewart rush James the way Stewart tried.
“I don’t know what he was trying to do,” Davis said. “But I know nobody on our team, 1 through 15, was having it. We’re going to protect our brother. I’ve never, in 10 years, seen a player try to do that as long as I’ve been playing. … It’s uncalled for.
“You got a cut above your eye, accidental-like. It wasn’t on purpose. We weren’t going to allow him to keep charging our brother like that. I don’t know what he was trying to do, but we wasn’t going to allow that.”
Davis, who finished with 30 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, five blocks and four steals, added the Lakers continued the game with the mindset of winning for LeBron.
The Lakers ended up coming back down 17 to win in the final minutes thanks to Davis’ performance and Russell Westbrook’s takeover.
