Fight night in Los Angeles between the Lakers and Rockets

Showtime may be back in Los Angeles, just not in the way the Lakers were expecting.

In an evening where all the headlines should’ve been about LeBron James’ first home game as a Los Angeles Laker, a fight between Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo, and to a lesser extent Brandon Ingram, dominated Twitter.

A quick recap, in the fourth quarter with the Houston Rockets up 109-108, James Harden — in typical Harden fashion — drew a foul on Brandon Ingram to go to the line, and Ingram, frustrated with the call, shoved Harden in the back.

While the referees were worried about getting in the middle of Harden and Ingram (nothing was going to happen) on the side, Paul and Rondo were exchanging words which escalated into Paul shoving his finger in Rondo’s face, and Rondo throwing the first punch. Paul got in a punch or two before James restrained Paul, which led to Ingram coming out of nowhere to punch Paul in the face. All three players were ejected. End scene.

There’s a lot to unpack here, but perhaps the biggest perpetrator is Brandon Ingram, for not only starting the scrum by shoving Harden, but also sucker punching Paul after James already securely had CP3 in his arms. It was reminiscent of the infamous fight between Julius Erving and Larry Bird where after being restrained by Charles Barkley and Moses Malone, Bird became a punching bag for Erving before the fight was broken up.

Ingram was frustrated, because like the rest of the league and fans alike, he was tired of Harden getting foul calls almost every time he drives to the basket. However, shoving Harden wasn’t going to do anything but let the Rockets know they can get in your head, and it worked. Not to mention Ingram got in the face of a referee after the official gave him a technical for shoving Harden.

Moving to the Rondo/Paul altercation. CP3 claimed that Rondo spit in his face, giving him reason to poke him. Of course Rondo vehemently denies the accusation, and after watching this video several times it certainly does appear like Rondo spit on Paul.

This incident between these two point guards was bound to happen. They have a storied hatred of each other dating back to when Paul was a member of the New Orleans Hornets. During a 2009 game between the Boston Celtics and Hornets, the two were jawing at each other all night that culminated with Rondo confronting Paul. In Saturday night’s game, all Rondo and Paul needed was a moment to get in each other’s face. Enter Brandon Ingram shoving James Harden.

There were no winners in last night’s fight. All three players will get suspended for some amount, which depending on the length of suspension, will harm their team in some way. This isn’t the 80s where respect is given for throwing punches, players today care about the consequences of getting involved in a fight. You don’t get respect for sucker punching an opposing player as your teammate is restraining him.

The only real winner last night was the Houston Rockets for walking away with a win after dropping their season opener to the New Orleans Pelicans. For the Lakers, they’re 0-2 with two players facing suspensions, not a lot to cheer about.