The night in Detroit was already simmering after Kevin Durant traded barbs with a fan, but it boiled over when Jabari Smith Jr. and Ronald Holland II decided to settle things with their hands. The prelude to it is more baffling than it seems…

With about eight minutes left, the Houston Rockets star made an inbound pass to Amen Thompson, but he got tied up at the baseline with an incoming Holland instead. And then suddenly, Smith was all over his opponent, trying to protect Thompson. The refs, Cade Cunningham, and both benches rushed in to break it up.

Somewhere in that chaos, Holland was arguing, and Smith said something back. Cunningham appeared to be playing the primary peacemaker. In fact, the Detroit Pistons star’s timely intervention likely saved Holland from a technical. The players in question all continued the game, and there were no ejections.

The Rockets were up 94-89 at that point. Commentators noted that things had been tense throughout the game, and it didn’t explode until the fourth quarter.

Kevin Durant and the Rockets keep the Pistons on their toes

The Pistons were all prepared to antagonize the Rockets tonight. But the visiting team was not tired on the second night of a back-to-back. It didn’t take long for everyone to notice that Kevin Durant was unfazed by the Detroit crowd.

A Pistons fan was heckling a little too loudly. Durant, in true fashion, clapped back. His NSFW retort is a little extreme to repeat here, but it successfully riled up his young teammates.

The result was not just a brawl in the last quarter. With tonight’s 32 points, Durant has had 30+ points in two consecutive games without a break (36 against the Philadelphia 76ers yesterday).

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Jabari Smith Jr. used all his 37 minutes to amp up the defense. He tallied 11 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, and two blocks and steals apiece. Together with Clint Capela, Smith’s stat line was full of high-level activity that limited the Pistons with vital defensive plays.

Every time the home crowd got loud and the Pistons closed in, Durant got a few buckets and widened the gap further. The hosts tried everything, including some physical defensive play, and kept changing up their defenders.

But no defense has slowed down Durant when he gets serious. He set the tone for the youngsters throughout the game, scoring timely, keeping the Pistons on their toes while letting the role players spread the offense. Meanwhile, the home team’s three-point struggles (two players were zero from the arc) didn’t help.

Yet despite the heckling, aggressive defense, and brawls, things seemingly thawed out in the end. Not difficult when the teams have twins on opposite ends. Amen and Ausar Thompson shared a long hug midcourt after the final buzzer that melted hearts.

With brotherly love, brawls, and trash talk, this game had everything to be a blockbuster.