Detroit Pistons rookie Cade Cunningham recorded his first career triple-double on Sunday but that was hardly the story in a game that saw LeBron James and Isaiah Stewart ejected after an on-court incident.
The altercation began to unfold early in the third quarter when James appeared to swing his left arm toward the face of Stewart during a free throw by Jerami Grant. James made contact with his left fist, causing significant bleeding above Stewart’s right eye.
The play prompted Stewart to try to retaliate against James.
Stewart had to be held back by several coaches and teammates, including Cunningham. He was eventually taken off of the court several minutes later after knocking down several people. He was ejected after receiving technical fouls for multiple unsportsmanlike acts.
James was tossed for unnecessary and excessive contact above the shoulder.
LeBron and Isaiah Stewart get into it 😳
Wow. pic.twitter.com/VJFntCo6cY
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 22, 2021
The Pistons led by 12 points at the time of the incident and eventually led by as many as 17 points. However, the Lakers outscored the Pistons by 20 points in the fourth quarter to pull out the 121-116 victory behind 30 points from Anthony Davis and 26 from Russell Westbrook.
Grant finished with 36 points to lead the Pistons while Hamidou Diallo had 17 points off the bench. Cunningham recorded 13 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists to become the eighth-youngest player in history to record a triple-double, and the youngest in team history.
Cunningham downplayed the accomplishment during the loss.
I think we did a lot of good things today but it’s just another step that we need to take. I think we made some progress but now we know we gotta close out fourth quarters better and things like that. I’m happy to see I was able to accomplish something like that, that is big time, but I think winning the game is even greater than that. I’m still going to go home kind of sour that we lost.
The performance by Cunningham was certainly overshadowed by the incident involving James and Stewart but the No. 1 overall picked offered a glimpse of his potential after another strong effort with Detroit.
The Pistons and Lakers play again on Sunday in Los Angeles.
This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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