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A LeBron James closed-fist smash bloodied the face of Detroit Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart, leading to a melee that could have been a lot worse had Stewart not been held back by multiple people and slowly pushed to the tunnel on Sunday night.
And the NBA needs to come down significantly on its biggest superstar.
Yes, it was just the second ejection of James’s career. It’s not like he has a history of dirty play.
But angles of the play — particularly this one — show a dangerous strike with force and frustration, not exactly what you learn about how to box someone out for a rebound.
So what’s the punishment here? To me, it’s got to be at least three to four games, which seems “significant” given context. If Nikola Jokic got one game for a retaliatory push of Marcus Morris, there has to be more here.
Here’s my logic: Stewart deserves a game off for escalating and refusing to leave the court in a relatively peaceful manner. James can’t get a single game too. And while assessing intent can be hard — James’ teammate Anthony Davis said the cut to Stewart’s eye wasn’t on purpose — James is still responsible for his actions either way.
No superstar treatment here. That could have been even worse for Stewart and the NBA can’t be lenient from that perspective.
Quick hits: What we learned from Week 11 … Russell Westbrook was part of that LeBron-Stewart melee …
— Chrstian D’Andrea breaks down what we learned about the NFL in Week 11, including takes on the surging Chiefs.
— NBA fans roasted Russell Westbrook for his reaction during the LeBron-Stewart altercation. Westbrook was also stunned after he learned he’d been T’d up.
— Fans were thrilled to see video of Tiger Woods’ progress on the golf course as he slowly returns from a horrific car crash nearly a year ago.
