The court could not contain the dislike between the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers.
This was a series where most expected hard fouls and chippy play from the opening game (based on their regular season meetings). That didn’t really materialize during the playoffs.
But it did in the hallway after the Clippers eliminated the Warriors in Game 7, reports Sam Amick of the USA Today.
According to three people with knowledge of the situation, the teams that went back and forth in a brilliant Game 7 of their first-round playoff series on Saturday night (a 126-121 Clippers win) followed the on-court action by engaging in a heated verbal back-and-forth in the tunnel that connects the locker rooms at Staples Center. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
The incident came in two waves, with most of the Warriors in the hallway at one point along with several Clippers. The police were called to assist, though it’s not believed any punches were thrown.
Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports had more details.
After the game ended, the Warriors thought they heard a Clippers assistant coach yell, “It’s a little quiet in there,” several times outside their locker room, multiple sources said. Warriors guards Stephen Curry and Steve Blake were the first to dart from the locker room and confronted some Clippers ball boys in the hallway between both locker rooms, a source said. The Warriors’ coaching staff and players followed Curry and Blake into the hallway where they also confronted Clippers staff members and some players, including forward Glen Davis, sources said.
Jeremiah Rivers, the son of Clippers coach Doc Rivers, said on Twitter that Warriors center Marreese Speights “barged into” the Clippers’ locker room, but that was not confirmed. He later deleted the tweet. Another source said Davis and Speights yelled at each other with Speights having to be held back. No punches were thrown, but a lot of screaming took place. The Los Angeles Police Department and game security calmed the situation, a source said.
We’ll see if there are any repercussions from the league surrounding this, although as it was a typical “NBA fight” — lots of words, some shoving, no punches — there likely will be no action taken.
