Things were heated between the Pistons and Pacers during Indiana's 111-100 win in Detroit Thursday night, leading to a confrontation between players after the final buzzer. Jalen Duren and Cade Cunningham came chest to chest with Pascal Siakam near mid-court and exchanged words before being separated by coaches. Isaiah Stewart came off the bench and had to be pulled away from Myles Turner.
A far cry from the Malice at the Palace, to be sure. But the bad blood is simmering between these old rivals in the East. The up-and-coming Pistons entered Thursday night just a 0.5 game behind the Pacers, who reached the Eastern Conference Finals last season. Indiana beat Detroit at LCA in the season opener, before the Pistons leveled the score in a rout in Indianapolis in November.
Asked after Thursday's game if the chippiness and chatter is a sign that the rivalry is coming back, Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said, “I hope so. I just hope that, you know, when we were kicking their ass at their place, it wasn't the same. So if that's the way it's gonna be, let's make it that way."
At one point Thursday night, Bickerstaff and Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle -- head coach of the Pistons from 2001-03 -- even exchanged words on the sideline. Carlisle said afterward that "we knew this was gonna be a physical and emotional battle."
“This is a team on the rise, and we’re right there with them in the standings. It's a divisional game. They beat us bad the last game. I liked our disposition," Carlisle said. "We stayed tough, we stayed together, we kept our poise."
The Pistons and Pacers wrap up their season series later this month in Indy, but they might be just getting started. Asked about the growing intensity between the two sides, Jalen Duren chose his words carefully and said, "We’ll see ‘em in a couple weeks."