WATCH: Pistons And Lakers Scrap After LeBron’s Flagrant Elbow
The elbow landed squarely in Isaiah Stewart's right eye, and he was NOT happy about it.
LeBron James is back in the Lakers lineup after being sidelined for two weeks—and he is making his presence felt. At 8-8, LeBron and the Lakers have been having a rough go of it. But in a game against Detroit, things came to a head when James clocked Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart across the head.
Call it an elbow, or a slap but, the two got tangled up while boxing out along the free throw line and James’ arm connected with Stewarts face.
Blood was soon gushing from the Detroit centers eye and—he promptly tried to go after James and his Lakers teammates. Now, the refs tossed James for ““unnecessary and excessive contact above the shoulder”—a Flagrant Foul Penalty 2.
But Stewart soon joined him as his reaction to the incident got him tossed too. “Isaiah got two technical fouls for multiple unsportsmanlike acts during the altercation,” Crew Chief Scott Foster said afterward. But just to give you an idea of how crazy the fracas got—Stewart had to be restrained from trying to track down James in the stadium tunnel. Yeah, it went from zero to cray in no time!
I think the whole thing should have been put to the "Benny Hill Theme", it was that absurd.
Hell, the whole situation soon devolved into a hot mess—with Russell Westbrook even earning a tech after throwing up his dukes. I mean, you gotta love Russ. It marked just the second ejection of James career but—his Lakers did go on to win 121-116.
Now, I’m not saying there was a method to James’ madness but, given the outcome, you can judge for yourself. Sometimes the King’s gotta get down and dirty to continue his reign!
I think we'll call this incident merely a commotion, since it never evolved into a melee or a fracas, and it certainly did not involve fisticuffs.
The two will meet again next Sunday, and some have already circled the date.
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