The Detroit Pistons’ 110-104 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night was overshadowed by a chaotic third-quarter melee that resulted in five total ejections. For the coaches, it’s a whole other story. Amid a looming wave of NBA suspensions, Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff did not mince words, placing the blame for the escalation squarely on the Hornets while defending his players’ right to protect one another in what he described as a hostile environment.

Bickerstaff could lose two of his strongest defenders, Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart to suspension. Stewart could be absent for an extended period for leaving the bench and jumping into the fray. Despite the involvement of Spectrum Center security and Stewart’s actions, Bickerstaff made his loyalties clear.

The flashpoint occurred late in the third period when a hard foul by Charlotte’s Moussa Diabate on Detroit big, Jalen Duren ignited a chain reaction. Bickerstaff argues the chaos started with Diabate’s actions. “They’re [Duren, Stewart] not the ones who crossed the line tonight. It’s clear there was frustration because of what [Duren] was doing, and they crossed a line,” Bickerstaff said during his post-game press conference.

The coach admitted that the fight shouldn’t have happened but said that his guys only reacted the moment swings were taken. “I hate that it got as ugly as it got … but if a guy throws a punch at you, you have a right to protect yourself.”

The most controversial aspect of the brawl involved Isaiah Stewart, who left the Detroit bench to engage with Miles Bridges. It’s an automatic one-game suspension and $50,000 fine for leaving the bench to enter a physical altercation. But given Stewart has notoriety in the league discipline office, the punishment could be a lot worse.

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Bickerstaff could be without his best defensive anchors, Duren and Stewart for more than a game. But he won’t blame them. Bickerstaff framed Stewart’s actions through the lens of loyalty.

“Duren and Stew consider themselves to be brothers. If you run two guys at one guy and you’ve already crossed the line, human instinct tells him to protect his little brother,” Bickerstaff explained.

The Hive breaks into chaos on the way to Pistons win

The Detroit Pistons were holding a lead for most of the game, up 70-62 in the third quarter. It was at this moment that Diabate fouled Duren. It went from a head-to-head argument to shoving to a fistfight within seconds. Amid the boos from the Charlotte home crowd, announcers noted that this is the first time they saw Diabate lose his cool.

Spectrum Center security had to drag Diabate out of the court because he broke away from coaches and teammates to chase Duren and get a few more hits in. No punches landed though.

However, Miles Bridges went from protectin Diabate to getting into a fist fight with Duren too. While the Hornets and Pistons benches initially cleared to diffuse the fight, Isaiah Stewart left the bench to defend Duren. His way of doing that was putting Bridges in a headlock. That’s not going to make the league look at it kindly.

The four players were served with fighting fouls which are automatic ejections. In addition to the ejections of Duren, Stewart, Diabaté, and Bridges, the intensity of the game eventually led to the dismissal of Hornets head coach Charles Lee in the fourth quarter for arguing with the refs. Bickerstaff avoided any such consequences.

No matter what Bickerstaff says, the NBA won’t look at this like a protective maneuver. The pool report stated that all four players had equal responsibility for what happened.

“The respective players engaged in fighting activity during the dead ball.  After review, we assessed fighting fouls and by rule they were ejected from the game.”

The report also said that the “totality of the event” is why Charles Lee was ejected on one tech instead of two. It indicates that the ‘totality’ will weigh in on one Pistons player too.

Bickerstaff’s “brotherhood” defense may be a calculated attempt to mitigate the fallout for Stewart, who faces potentially severe consequences due to his “repeat offender” status and the fact that he was not on the floor when the fight began.

Detroit managed to snap Charlotte’s nine-game winning streak behind a 33-point performance from Cade Cunningham. But the victory feels secondary to the impending disciplinary action.