Isaiah Stewart Speaks on LeBron James Incident: 'I Didn't Feel Like It Was An Accident'
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Pistons forward Isaiah Stewart told reporters after Detroit's 107–96 loss to the Clippers on Friday that he no longer planned to address Sunday's incident with Lakers star LeBron James moving forward.
“I watched the film,” Stewart said. “Me, personally, like I said, I didn’t feel like it was an accident. But this is my last time addressing it. My main focus right now is on my team and my teammates, getting back to playing basketball.
"I'm not going to let that define who I am. I'm going to let what Detroit drafted me for define who I am and the way I play basketball."
Stewart was restrained by teammate after James struck him in the face with his elbow during a free throw attempt. While James attempted to apologize, Stewart was outraged and both teams converged near mid-court.
Stewart's comments Friday came after James addressed the situation Wednesday, saying that he had no issue on being ejected from the game but a suspension for his actions was not warranted.
"It warranted an ejection because of what happened after that,” James said. “Having me still in the game, the excitement of the fans, what could possibly happen after that. But a suspension, I didn’t think that was warranted, but the league made that call.”
The Pistons (4–15) suffered their fifth consecutive loss Friday and dropped the seventh of their last 10 games. Detroit moves on to its third game of a five-game road trip.
Stewart finished Friday's game with four points and 12 rebounds in 27 minutes of action.
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