LOS ANGELES – It was the first big shot Doug Christie has hit against the Lakers in many years – and it was a left uppercut to Rick Fox’ jaw.
The Lakers’ Fox and Kings’ Christie fought each other in the first quarter last night during a preseason game – then continued the ugliness in the tunnel underneath the stands after they were ejected.
Neither player appeared to be seriously hurt in the scuffle – but both likely face major discipline from the NBA.
The hostilities also included a shove-off between Laker center Shaquille O’Neal – in street clothes and with his bodyguard in tow – and King center Vlade Divac.
These teams do not like each other, and regularly trade insults. But the rhetoric heated up before last night’s game as O’Neal said, “I’m not worried about the Sacramento Queens.”
Things exploded 2:07 into the first quarter.
Trying to steal the ball from Fox, Christie drew an offensive foul when the Laker forward knocked him to the court with an elbow.
After Christie got up from the floor, the players exchanged words. Fox slapped Christie in the face.
Christie responded with a left to Fox’s jaw.
After both players were ejected, they left the court in opposite directions, but Fox raced around the back, past the locker room.
He met up with Christie in the tunnel that leads to the locker room area and grabbed the Kings guard in a headlock.
Because a fan had thrown an object at Christie as he was being escorted off the court, security guards had temporarily left his side before Fox caught up with him. The security guards went back to the tunnel to separate the two players as the King bench emptied and ran to Christie’s aid, perhaps thinking he was in danger from a fan.
The episode detracted from what ordinarily is a go-through-the-motions finale to the preseason.
“I thought it was going to be fun,” Divac, who played for the Lakers from 1989-96, said. “The last game of the preseason, you try to work on your game and get ready for the regular season.”
The teams, which have become heated rivals over the past few seasons, don’t play each other in the regular season until Christmas Day. Last night was their first meeting of the preseason.
The game was played as a doubleheader at Staples Center. Cleveland and Milwaukee played the early game.With AP reports