LeBron James and Isaiah Stewart got into a heated exchange during the game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Detroit Pistons after the former elbowed the latter in the head. Afterwards, the Pistons’ center needed five stitches.
Players of both teams tried to prevent a group fight as they tried to calm down their teammates. Lakers head coach Fran Vogel shared his thoughts on the incident during a postgame press conference.
“It was unfortunate contact,” he said. “Bron was just trying use an elbow to a ridge case which was a foul, he was trying to shed a contact and had an incidental contact that was obviously enough for flagrant too. But the reaction was what it was.
“I think our guys did a good job trying to protect a teammate but not trying to escalate. That’s what you want. You want peace keepers in those situations. For the most part I feel like our guys did that while forming a wall around a teammate and standing up for each other without turning it into something uglier. Commend our guys for that.”
