The NBA witnessed a heated exchange recently as the Detroit Pistons hosted the Los Angeles Lakers. Pistons’ Isaiah Stewart elbowed the Lakers’ talisman, LeBron James, during the game as a clip capturing those moments surfaced publicly. In that short video, the 38-year-old was seen cursing while expressing his disgust at the actions of the 22-year-old power forward.
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During a possession for Detroit, Isaiah elbowed James’ neck in the paint. The duo did not get involved in a brawl as the 4x champion immediately distanced himself from the youngster after a foul call in his favor. Following that, LeBron directed his words, “What the f**k are we doing?” toward the 6ft 8″ New Yorker.
This chapter did not close just there as the 4x MVP refused to let it go. After gaining the possession, LeBron complained to the match referee while dribbling up the sideline. “He got issues, that’s all imma say,” James was caught mentioning to the official.
Soon after that, they fought once again under the rim for a rebound. Stewart shoved the veteran to disbalance him while James tried his best to keep his feet firmly on the court. Eventually, Isaiah did just enough to jump first to reach the ball but it resulted in another foul call against him.
The ongoing tussles added a layer of excitement to the clash as the visitors won in the end with a scoreline of 133-107. LeBron played a vital part in his team’s 11th win of the campaign, as he registered 25-8-3 in 29 minutes. For the Piston though, the misery only extended with their fifteenth defeat of the campaign.
The second round between LeBron James and Isaiah Stewart
Their hateful interaction started two years back when a chopdown from James resulted in an on-court fight and ejections. With the Pistons taking their second free throw, LeBron tried to prevent Isaiah from getting an offensive rebound. In the process, the 19x All-Star’s hand hit the face of the youngster as the latter went after the superstar.
The situation escalated quickly as the referees had to eject multiple players. It put the league under negative limelight as Stewart’s comments, “I didn’t feel like it was an accident,” made it even worse. The Lakers star still defended himself publicly, stating, “The actual chop down was on purpose to get his arm off of me”.
The duo seemed to have failed to take in each other’s point of view by now as their recent actions reflected precisely that. Amidst the damaged relationship between them, the audience got what they wanted. A blockbuster mid-week action-packed NBA encounter.
