Two Houston Rockets players suspended for entering Los Angeles Clippers locker room

What's the story?

The NBA has suspended Houston Rockets players Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green for two games because they entered the Los Angeles Clippers locker room through a secret passage after a contentious game on Monday night.

In case you didn't know...

Monday’s game marked Chris Paul’s first game against the Clippers, the team which he had led for the last six season as part of “Lob City” alongside Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. The Clippers prevailed 113-102 thanks to 29 points from Blake Griffin who overran Houston’s thin frontcourt rotation, but the game became ugly in the final quarter.

With three minutes left in the game, Griffin ran into Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni. D’Antoni spoke to a nearby referee, then exchanged profanities with Griffin which saw both men receive double technical fouls. Additional angry words were exchanged between Paul & Griffin, Griffin & Ariza, and Ariza & Austin Rivers who was sitting on the bench with an injury later in the game. Griffin and Ariza were eventually ejected.

The heart of the matter

As per The Washington Post, initial reports after the game indicated that Rockets star Chris Paul had led a group of Rockets including fellow star James Harden down a secret tunnel to the Clippers locker room to confront Blake Griffin and Austin Rivers.

However, as per Kiki VanDeWeghe's admission to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the NBA decided after watching surveillance tape footage that “Paul and Harden were judged to have been trying to de-escalate tensions.” Neither star received a suspension. The NBA also declined to punish any Clippers.

Both the Rockets and the Clippers expressed frustration with the NBA’s decision. The Los Angeles Times reported that Doc Rivers believed more Rockets players were involved beyond Ariza and Green, though he also opined that players should be fined rather than suspended. The Rockets argued that Blake Griffin and Austin Rivers should have been punished, as the latter allegedly kept insulting Ariza even after the game.

Other Rockets alleged to have been involved in the locker room incident afterwards included Clint Capela and Tarik Black, but the NBA appears to have determined that only four Rockets were involved.

What's next?

Houston’s next two games are against the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight followed by a matchup against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night. While the Rockets will miss Ariza and Green against those strong opponents, ESPN reported that James Harden is expected to return against Minnesota after missing the last seven games with a hamstring injury. The Rockets went 4-3 during his absence.

The next matchup between the Rockets and the Clippers will occur on 28 February in Los Angeles. Following this locker room incident, expect this game to be a fiercely contested one.

Author's take

It is really appalling to see grown up, professional basketball players behave in such an atrocious manner. While we're lucky that nothing ugly happened from this encounter, brain fades like these are not expected from NBA players to whom many individuals look up to as inspirational idols. Such players should definitely be meted out with disciplinary actions like in the case of Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green.