The next time you watch footage from the fourth-quarter commotion that stained LeBron James’s home debut with the Los Angeles Lakers, take note of the reaction from Houston Rockets guard James Harden.
Right at the start of it all, when he was shoved under the basket by Lakers forward Brandon Ingram, Harden exercised total, textbook, veteran restraint. Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul, two fellow vets whose mutual contempt stretches back many years, did not.
Let’s be clear here: Rondo is the more culpable of the two. Far, far more. Spitting in another person’s face, from close range, is indefensible.