WASHINGTON — The Wizards and Pistons turned a preseason game into a full midseason grudge match this week after a baseline confrontation escalated into what league observers are already calling a historic “hold me back” performance.
Tensions first flared with Washington holding a 49-40 lead, when Kyshawn George and Paul Reed battled for position near the baseline and, in true preseason spirit, decided that a meaningless exhibition was the ideal place to act like the Eastern Conference title was on the line.
Witnesses said things quickly got confusing, with arms flying, players converging and nobody fully certain who started what beyond a general agreement that everyone became emotionally available for conflict at the exact same time.
Anthony Davis initially stepped in to separate the two, which naturally caused the situation to become much worse.
Instead of calming things down, Davis physically holding a Pistons player back appeared to inspire the rest of the floor to join what became a large, shouting mass of players, assistants and arena personnel, with Ausar Thompson also finding his way into the chaos.
By the end of it, the confrontation had produced an extraordinary number of players simultaneously leaning forward, yelling and making sure at least one teammate was restraining them at all times.
League sources later confirmed that while no actual fight seemed especially close to breaking out, the commitment to looking like one might break out at any second was among the strongest seen in preseason history.
At press time, officials were still sorting out technical fouls while both teams privately celebrated getting into regular-season-level drama before the games started counting.
