Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo Fight Sparks Wild Brawl Between Lakers and Rockets

Three players and the lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers were all ejected. Seriously.

Pro basketball is the only sport where a guy considered reasonably tall in everyday life—6’3″-6’4″—might be on the short side compared to teammates. Even 6’6″ is kind of modest. 

The idea of men that huge fighting at all is a little intimidating. Guys that big getting into a brawl is another level all together. In the Los Angeles Lakers-Houston Rockets matchup Saturday, fists flew and the court came close to exploding with a lot of big man power and rage. There was even a surprising guest appearance from a rock star noted for his inability to sing about anything unrelated to California.

As it was, the game was a disappointment. James Harden led the Rockets to a 124-115 victory, putting a damper on the excitement of LeBron James’ LA debut. It might be to James’ advantage, however, that the most memorable thing was the moment in the fourth quarter when a fight broke out involving Lakers Brandon Ingram and Rajon Rondo and Rockets point guard Chris Paul.

The score was tightening and Ingram fouled Harden, then pushed him. Things took off from there. A simultaneous heated exchange between Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo popped off and boom, everyone hit the floor.

Paul later said Rondo spit on him, which would be enough to start a fight anywhere, but good luck finding video evidence Rondo did it.

Watching the videos, one thing was clear: King James wasn’t about to get involved. He got in the middle of it solely to settle things, handling teammates and players on the other side with equal sportsmanship.

Long story short, Chris Paul, Brandon Ingram and Rajon Rondo were ejected and might face suspensions as well.

The internet loves any kind of pro sports brawl, especially when the sport in question isn’t necessarily violent by nature, like baseball or basketball. People don’t go to hockey games expecting peace, love, and cocoa puffs, and football is, by definition, about everyone crashing into each other for 2-3 hours.

But at least one celebrity attendee, Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis, had such a big problem with the violence he seemed ready to jump in the fray. So he was ejected as well. 

It should come as no surprise that Twitter had fun with all this.

https://twitter.com/balldntlie/status/1054056376710746112

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