Saturday’s exchange of words and fists between Houston’s Chris Paul and the Lakers’ Rajon Rondo was just the latest flashpoint in the All-Star guards’ long-running history.
Clippers coach Doc Rivers, who coached Rondo in Boston for seven seasons and Paul with the Clippers for five, didn’t expect Brandon Ingram’s initial foul on Houston’s James Harden would spill over into a fight resulting in the suspensions of Ingram, Paul and Rondo, but Rivers called it unsurprising his ultracompetitive former players found themselves in the middle of it.
“They’ve had their run-ins,” Rivers said before Sunday’s tipoff against the Rockets, a game Paul missed as part of a two-game suspension handed down by the NBA.