The Los Angeles Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies are two more teams that got into a fight during Tuesday night’s NBA in-season tournament games.
The fight between Anthony Davis and Santi Aldama didn’t happen in the first two minutes like the one between the Golden State Warriors and the Minnesota Timberwolves, but it did happen in the first quarter, and both players were given technical fouls.
With five minutes left in the first quarter, the Lakers forward grabbed a long outlet pass, turned, and took one step toward the basket before making a disputed layup that put the Lakers ahead 18-16. At first, it looked like Aldama would go up with Davis, but the Memphis forward changed his mind at the last second.
Things got rough at this point.
Davis tried to get back on defense, but Aldama caught him. He said that Davis wasn’t letting him pass the ball as an excuse.
Davis didn’t like it, so he pushed Aldama to the ground. As Davis walked to the middle of the court, Memphis guard Desmond Bane walked up to the big guy and sat down next to him. D’Angelo Russell stepped in between them because neither player gave up.
When Bane got involved in the fight, it led to a back-and-forth between him and Davis, which ended with a meeting to clear the benches. All of the people involved had to be split up. Davis and Aldama got technicals, which made Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins angry, and Jenkins also got a tech.
Davis got what was coming to him at the end of the half, but it was the right way. Bane cut down the lane and tried to make a layup, but Davis blocked the shot and sent it back to the source. Because of how strong the refusal was, Bane was thrown to the floor.
They beat the Nuggets 134–107 to go 2-0 in West Group B of the NBA’s pre-season event. They are 0-3 so far.