By Matthew Paras - The Washington Times - Tuesday, January 16, 2018

The slogan “The NBA: Where Amazing Happens” apparently carries over to the locker room. 

Following Houston’s 113-102 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday, Rockets guard Chris Paul and three other Rockets went to the Clippers locker room to confront Austin Rivers and Blake Griffin after they talked copious amounts of trash throughout the game. 

Paul, James Harden, Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green “marched through a back corridor” and stunned the Clippers, according to ESPN. Extra security had to be called, and the Rockets players had to be shoved out of the room. 

Per ESPN, here’s what set off the Rockets:

The Rockets players were filled with a greater animus for Rivers, sources told ESPN, because they insist that he had been especially belligerent from the bench in the late stages of the Clippers’ victory. Out with an ankle injury and wearing a suit, Rivers was reveling in Griffin’s dominant performance of 29 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Once Griffin became entangled with several Rockets, Rivers’ verbiage appeared to become more aggressive.

Griffin unleashed on the Rockets in the final minutes of the game, brushing past Mike D’Antoni and inspiring the Rockets coach to scream “F—- you” at him. Griffin fired a loose ball off the back of Eric Gordon as the Clippers star was falling out of bounds, and seconds later, he engaged in a skirmish with Ariza that led to double technical fouls and an ejection with 1 minute, 3 seconds left.

Needless to say, the incident was hilarious to the many not involved. Watch how TNT’s “Inside the NBA” crew reacted to the news:

Twitter also had a field day:

On a formal note, the NBA has said it plans to investigate the incident. 

• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.

Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

Please read our comment policy before commenting.

Click to Read More and View Comments

Click to Hide