Ariza, Green receive punishment
Two-game suspensions will start tonight; no discipline for ‘peacemakers’ Harden, Paul
Two days after four Rockets players entered the Clippers’ locker room, two were left with a twogame suspension.
Rockets forwards Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green on Wednesday were suspended without pay for two games, Thursday against the Timberwolves and Saturday against the Warriors, for entering the Clippers’ locker room and instigating a “verbal, hostile altercation.”
Rockets guards Chris Paul and James Harden received no penalties, with their involvement considered as “peacemakers” that diffused the situation, according to Kiki VanDeWeghe, NBA executive vice president for basketball operations.
“What we determined, and this came from both sides and was corroborated by both sides in our interviews, was Ariza and Green entered the Clippers’ locker room in order to confront somebody or players,” VanDeWeghe said. “In these types of circumstances where it is super tense — this is a tough game, everybody is passionate, the game is chippy — you can’t go in the locker room. Completely inappropriate. You can provoke something that could be a very bad situation for everybody.
“As far as Harden and Paul go, … both sides had them as peacemakers. There could have been language back and forth, but they were peacemakers. Chris Paul tried to get his players out of the locker room, as did Harden. Again, confirmed by Clippers staff, arena staff and Rockets staff.”
The Rockets were surprised the penalties for Ariza and Green exceeded the one-game suspensions in previous similar incidents and
“astonished” that Blake Griffin was not disciplined for “aggressively targeting” Mike D’Antoni when he brushed past the Rockets coach, a person with knowledge of the team’s thinking said.
VanDeWeghe said there was no security camera of the back corridor that the Rockets players used to go to the Clippers’ locker room after the 113-102 loss, but he said it was crowded with Rockets players along with staff from both teams and the Staples Center. He said the league conducted interviews with more than 20 witnesses.
“Obviously, Ariza and Green go in first,” VanDeWeghe said. “Harden and Paul were in the back area. It’s pretty common. Everybody knows about it. Players come in and out. (Visiting) team has (postgame) food there. Equipment, X-rays and MRI machines are back there. Chris Paul and Harden are in the hallway. That’s where they are heard trying to get their players out, saying, ‘We don’t need this. C’mon guys, get out of there.’ ” Video clears Capela
VanDeWeghe said he reviewed footage from a security camera in the main hallway and it showed no player attempted to enter the Clippers’ locker room from the front entrance the team generally uses.
“It was reported that (Clint) Capela was out there,” VanDeWeghe said. “We have no video evidence that Capela was out there.”
Rockets center Tarik Black was on his way to lift weights at the time, as he does after each game, and heard the noise from the back hallway, VanDeWeghe said.
“He heard some commotion and called in but never got any farther,” VanDeWeghe said. “I think we’d all do the same thing.”
Griffin was not penalized because of the amount of contract with D’Antoni, the league ruled.
“We … determined that the contact was very minimal, didn’t deserve a penalty,” VanDeWeghe said. “When any contact or brush happened, Griffin was inbounds. D’Antoni was … right next to the line.”
The ruling about Ariza and Green was made in part because it could have provoked a greater, more dangerous incident. If the same could be said of a player making even minimal contact with a coach because of the potential for the contact to be much greater, VanDeWeghe said the difference was that Griffin’s action was during the game itself. ‘Nothing happened’
The suspensions will cost Ariza nearly $83,000 and Green roughly $15,500. Ariza said little about the incident Wednesday, other than indicating he went into the locker room to talk to the players among the Clippers he considered friends.
“Half of those players in that locker room were on our team last year,” Ariza said. “Everybody is pretty friendly. I’m pretty friendly with people that I know. People I don’t know, I don’t really talk to.
“The only problem that I have is all the buzz (the media) created. You guys had a lot of different stories about what happened, none of which were true. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. The people that were there know exactly what happened and know exactly what did not happen.”
“Nothing happened. That’s what happened. That’s it.”
The NBA, however, considered what could have happened and sent a message.
“This was a very passionate, hard-fought, chippy game,” VanDeWeghe said. “This was really hotly contested.”