LeBron James most definitely deserved to be ejected for making contact with the face of the Pistons’ Isaiah Stewart as they tussled for a rebound early in the third quarter of the Lakers’ visit to the Little Caesars Arena the other day. It wasn’t that he deliberately aimed for the 2020 first round pick’s mug; it was that prevailing rules heavily penalizes hits above the neck. In any case, he immediately turned to his victim to apologize, and cooler heads seemed to prevail early on. Unfortunately, the immediate effect of the contact was plain for all to see, and the ensuing action evoked memories of the Malice at the Palace.
Not that things were going to escalate to the level of the infamous brawl 17 years ago; back then, even spectators got involved. In this particular case, only Stewart seemed to be so worked up, with even his coaches and teammates trying their level best to prevent him from charging at James. He saw red, figuratively and literally, and to the point where he repeatedly moved in the direction of the 17-time All-Star. And he would have succeeded, too, had Piston after Piston, separately and together, not intervened.
At the time of the incident, the Lakers were down 12 points, again playing listless hoops and in danger of suffering a fourth straight setback and fifth in six outings. But, as Pistons head coach Dwayne Casey noted, “it got them going.” It also bears noting that, apart from Stewart (who subsequently bore insult added to injury by being suspended two games), everybody concedes the future Hall of Famer to be far from dirty. Who knows what he was thinking in the heat of the moment? He knew his misstep as soon as it happened, though, and promptly made amends — or, at least, tried to.
Stewart will, no doubt, learn from the experience. After all, there’s no better teacher. Meanwhile, James will miss yet another contest in the Lakers’ young campaign. The season may be long, but his absence is a blow in the face of their continued inability to find their identity — and, at this point, any identity is better than none. They’ve gone small, they’ve gone big, and they’ve gone any which way in between, and nothing seems to have stuck to their satisfaction. And after the overhaul they did, arguing that .500 ball is unacceptable would be a gross understatement.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.