It was a heated Monday night at the Staples Center between the Houston Rockets and LA Clippers.
The return of former Clippers point guard Chris Paul in Rockets colors was basically a combustible situation. And his former co-star, Blake Griffin, was a major catalyst.
After the game and the backstage events, Griffin seemed quite pleased with how the activities of the evening went down.
— Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin32) January 16, 2018
Injured Clippers guard Patrick Beverley was included in the Paul trade, along with current Clippers Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell and Sam Dekker. While Beverley has been done for the season since November, he is still taking ownership of whatever culture change is taking place in Los Angeles.
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey decided to hit the Clippers on the way out.
Still putting on his shoes pic.twitter.com/mj9vS9cwCn
— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) January 16, 2018
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was just happy to be there on a night that saw the Clippers go over .500 for the first time since a nine-game losing streak in November.
Tonight was a good good night @LAClippers our players have so much heart and our fans were the best ever #emotional
— Steve Ballmer (@Steven_Ballmer) January 16, 2018
Dekker had to respond to the Rockets fans who were not pleased about the decorum in the fourth quarter. He pleaded the fifth.
Lol what'd I do? I was chillin https://t.co/BwNJzxIYvz
— Sam Dekker (@dekker) January 16, 2018
And while Austin Rivers didn't play, he was a central piece of the altercations.
Some of these memes and Gifs right now 😂😂....lol I didn't even play tonight. I was the guy with the boot/cast on haha. 🤦♂️
— Austin Rivers (@AustinRivers25) January 16, 2018
Pull up again on Feb. 28. That's when the Rockets will be back in L.A. to see the Clippers.