Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren was ejected from their win over the Houston Rockets on Friday night after planting a vicious off-ball elbow on Amen Thompson.
During the second quarter of the game at Houston’s Toyota Center, Duren made a move to cut to the basket before elbowing Thompson on his way through unprovoked, sending the Rockets guard tumbling to the floor.
The pair had become embroiled in a minor altercation earlier in the game, with both of them earning technical fouls.
But the elbow from Duren took their feud to another level, before he was quickly given his marching orders by the referee. The Pistons were ahead 43-41 at the time of his ejection.
As he headed for the tunnel, the 21-year-old taunted the Houston crowd by pointing to the ‘Detroit’ on his jersey.
In the end the visitors got over the line in his absence, with Cade Cunningham scoring 21 points and making two free throws with 5.5 seconds left to help earn them a 115-111 win over the Rockets.
Jalen Duren was ejected from the Pistons’ win over the Rockets for elbowing Amen Thompson
Duren planted the elbow on Thompson after the pair had already had a minor altercation
Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff got his 300th career win, making him and his father Bernie Bickerstaff (419) the first father-son duo to in NBA history to each reach 300 career wins.
Paul Reed’s layup made it 113-110 before Houston cut the lead to two when Alperen Sengun made 1 of 2 free throws with 1:32 remaining.
Both teams missed 3-point attempts before Detroit’s Ausar Thompson missed a 3 with 35 seconds left and Reed blocked Sengun’s shot in the lane 16.4 seconds to go.
Houston was forced to foul and Cunningham sunk both free throws to make it 115-111 and give the Pistons their first win of the season after they lost to Chicago in their opener.
Thompson had 19 points for Detroit to outdo identical twin brother Houston’s Thompson, who finished with 10.
