Report: Rockets Players Try To Continue Game Scuffle In Clippers Locker Room
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA/AP) — The hot tempers that flared up during the Los Angeles Clippers' victory over the Houston Rockets carried over after the game.
Several security guards were present outside the Rockets' locker room Monday night following a 113-102 loss to the Clippers that got heated on the court.
Citing anonymous NBA sources, ESPN reported former Clipper Chris Paul, James Harden, Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green headed toward the Clippers' locker room afterward, seeking a confrontation, but were escorted away by security before anything got physical.
Two LAPD supervisors were also called out to the Staples Center.
Asked about it, Clippers coach Doc Rivers would only say his team was in its own locker room. "Their entire team was not in their locker room," he said, referring to the Rockets.
Walking into his postgame interview, Rivers joked, "We're honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we're non-violent."
After the game, Paul dodged the question about whether there was a confrontation in the locker room. But about the game scuffle, he said, "It's always like that when you hoop, especially when you're playing against a former team, stuff like that, all the emotions that go into it, seeing familiar faces and stuff like that."
During the game, the heated exchange of words started with Ariza and Austin Rivers, who was in street clothes. Griffin stepped, prompting Rockets Head Coach Mike D'Antoni joined the verbal confrontation.
Griffin and Ariza were ultimately ejected from the game.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)