Altercation Report Card: Timberwolves vs. Pistons

What kind of a person would I be if I didn’t put a blog out enabling behavior that will result in suspensions?

Early Sunday game? I’m sure you wrote it off as one that would be uneventful.

WRONG!

In an engagement of fisticuffs only moderately matched by the hailstorm of hands that transpired two years ago against the Orlando Magic (one in which I wrote a very similar post for…yes this is now my only bit), the Minnesota Timberwolves ironically engaged the Detroit Pistons in a very similar smackdown.

I’d argue this one was much better than Orlando. Not only did it spread into the crowd, which is NOT the first time that’s happened in Pistons history, but it didn’t just involve the players.

Lots to dive into here. I’m going to try and unpack this via my grading system with adrenaline still coursing through my system. I try to adhere to a few specific criteria:

• Was the person antagonistic? If so, that’s a positive
• Did they throw hands? If so, did it look like they could fight? How efficient were the punches?
• Size advantages
• High ground/leverage

Let’s get to it.

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Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

Ron Holland: D

Ron Holland is 6’8 and was completely discarded by 6’3 Donte DiVincenzo. He wan’t even necessarily antagonistic. DiVincenzo took exception to him and asserted his will almost immediately after he hard-fouled Naz Reid.

Just think about it for a second. a 6’8 person needed his center to step in in order to prevent a fight with a 6’3 guard from getting ugly. He also got up and did that thing where he made his teammates hold him back after. I’m sure he “totally would have won” if the refs didn’t break it up either.

Donte DiVincenzo: A

Self explanatory. Before the fight even happened, he wanted smoke with Isaiah Stewart. He absolutely does not care, going 2 vs. 1 and welcoming it. Shoutout to Donte DiVincenzo.

Not sure if you saw on the TV broadcast, but as he was walking into the tunnel for his ejection, you could see blood on his jersey.

He gave the Wolves life and and edge when they didn’t have it on Sunday.

Isaiah Stewart: A-

I love how much of a menace he is. In my opinion, he makes Draymond Green look like Gandhi. All of his teammates know it too. When he and DiVincenzo were getting into it on previous possessions, his teammates were giving Donte a look like, “hey man, we all signed the waiver, you should have too”.

He came to the defense of his teammate pretty effectively and found high ground immediately. Veteran move, you can tell immediately that it wasn’t his first rodeo.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Stewart has been dropped from an A- to a B+ after new information arises.

Naz Reid: C

I don’t think this is really due to Naz’s technical ability in the altercation. I just think that for someone who was the reason the fight started, he became a bit of a supporting actor. I’m still giving him the C for being the antagonizer, and he made the most out of the aftermath.

He also needed three (?) security guards to hold him back. That alone is worth asking around to see if someone got a photo of for your Instagram page.

JB Bickerstaff & Pablo Prigioni: B-

I love the coach scrap. Shoutout to JB Bickerstaff for wanting smoke, and Pablo Prigioni for not backing down. Fights happen in the NBA relatively often, but this wrinkle is something that sets it apart.

If this ended up getting more coaches involved, it’s an automatic A+.

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Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

Things I Wish Happened

• Finch putting his boxing gloves on. Don’t get me wrong, Prigioni was the target from Bickerstaff in trying to diffuse the situation, but a hard shoulder or some words getting exchanged to culminate in some head coach on head coach violence would have been life-altering.
• Rudy Gobert apparently kickboxes in the offseason as a part of his training. I would love to see the fruits of that labor at some point.
• Malik Beasley was getting into it with the fans before the fight happened. That would have been a fun little side skirmish. But really, that was great from the fans to not get too involved with the altercation. It would have been very easy to.

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I do this in jest, obviously. But this is awesome. It took a Sunday night game that looked like it was going to be a sleepy one and made it so much more fun and competitive. Ejections because of this included all of the above, and including Marcus Sasser for Detroit.

Ramifications of this will be interesting. I would imaging DiVincenzo, Stewart, and Holland see fines and suspensions. It would be pretty surprising to me if Reid got the same penalty, but if the league wanted to send a message, I could see Reid having a lesser degree of punishment than the others.

Overall, a good way to tighten up the screws. Maybe i’ll find myself doing this again in two years.