Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff had a humorous interpretation of a recent Isaiah Stewart incident
When the Pistons squared off against the Bucks last week, Detroit big man Isaiah Stewart nearly squared off with Bobby Portis on the court. Both two of the tougher guys in the NBA, Stewart and Portis are not known for backing down to squabbles, and neither player seemed interested in letting their dispute fall to the wayside.
After a couple minor dust-ups between Stewart and Portis, the former was ejected after picking up his second technical foul for presenting his fist in Portis’ face. Now, Stewart certainly had some choice words for Portis in the fracas, but they two did not make aggressive contact– the clash ended with Stewart’s upright fist before he was ejected.
Before he exited the court, Stewart conferred with Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff as the final call was delivered. During that exchange, Bickerstaff aimed to calm the Pistons’ shot-blocking phenom, but Stewart had a few other ideas.
During a recent interview with FanDuel TV’s flagship NBA show, Run It Back, Bickerstaff spoke about the eventful moment from the Pistons game that went viral for Stewart’s passionate response. The analysts postulated that Stewart was interested in continuing to fight with Portis, but Detroit’s head coach dismissed that possibility.
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“You’re wrong,” Bickerstaff said. “He was talking about cooking, and you need to mash the meat when you make the smash burgers. That’s what he was saying. He’s going to go home and make some smash burgers, and he just needed to pound that meat so that it got flat. You guys know how to cook. You know how to make smash burgers.”
Now, for anyone who is not culinarily inclined, Stewart has the potential to be a skilled smash burger chef given his strength and intensity, but Bickerstaff’s response really demonstrates the terrific sense of humor from the Pistons’ head coach. Bickerstaff delivered a quick-thinking response that deflects the heat from Beef Stew while redirecting the conversation into a humorous, food-oriented direction.
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This season, Stewart has already picked up five technical fouls, which puts him on pace to eclipse the 16-technical threshold, which is the point where a suspension would come into play. Last season, Stewart logged 16 technical fouls exactly last season, so it will be important to monitor the rate at which Beef Stew is penalized going forward.
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