Tempers flare in Lakers defeat to Pelicans
Rondo and Thomas ejected from game
The Celtics haven’t created this much drama for the Lakers in years. Late in the first quarter of the Lakers’ 139-117 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, a verbal exchange got two former Celtics — Lakers point guard Isaiah Thomas and Pelicans point guard Rajon Rondo — ejected from the game.
Did Rondo mention the infamous video tribute the Celtics considered playing for Thomas during his recent return to Boston?
Thomas grinned in the locker room after the game.
“Yeah, he brought it up,” Thomas said.
“For whatever reason he’s an upset guy about me. I don’t know what it is. He kept bringing the tribute up when I was the one that shut the tribute down.”
Hot tempers and corresponding ejections marked the Lakers’ first half against the Pelicans. By half-time, Lakers coach Luke Walton, Thomas and Rondo had all been ejected. By then the Pelicans had also taken a commanding lead by exploiting the Lakers’ suddenly backsliding defence. New Orleans led 79-66 at half-time, with 31 points from Anthony Davis, who finished with 42.
With the loss, the Lakers fell to 23-33 while the Pelicans improved to 31-26.
The first set of ejections came as the first quarter closed, after Rondo clashed with Thomas. At first it was Rondo playing physical defence against Thomas, even striking him in the face at least twice. The two seemed to separate without incident, but Rondo wasn’t finished, leading to a verbal exchange that caused both players to get ejected.
Technical fouls
“It felt like they were waiting for me to get upset,” Thomas said. “I got hit in my face three times, and the third time I got hit in my face I reacted and tried to tell the refs, ‘Are you gonna control this?’ Hopefully, like I said, the NBA sees it, looks at it, figures it out, but I definitely need to get those technical fouls rescinded because I didn’t do anything.”
Rondo and Thomas both played for the Celtics, in different eras. Rondo spent eight years with the Celtics and won a championship in 2008, beating the Lakers in the Finals. Thomas spent two seasons with the Celtics and led them to the conference finals last season, where they lost to the Cavaliers.