Los Angeles Lakers guard Rajon Rondo on Tuesday continued to deny that he intentionally spit at Houston Rockets guard Chris Paul during Saturday’s brawl that resulted in suspensions for three players.
Chris Paul, Brandon Ingram and Rajon Rondo have been ejected after throwing blows in L.A. pic.twitter.com/s28TT81eys
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 21, 2018
“Look at my body language [in the video]. My hands on my hips. I turn away for a second. Look at Eric [Gordon] and Melo [Carmelo Anthony] in the video. If they saw me spit, they would have turned their face up or something. They had no reaction.”
“Exasperating and spitting are two different things. He comes out and says I spit and the media sides with that.”
When asked Sunday if Rondo spit on Paul, Lakers coach Luke Walton said, “No.”
“One, if I spit on you, bottom line, there is not going to be no finger pointing. If you felt that I just spit on you, then all bets are off. Two, look at my body language. If I spit on you on purpose, I’m going to be ready for a man to swing on me. You ain’t going to have my hands on my hip and my head look away at someone if I spit on them. After the [expletive] goes down, within 30 seconds, you run and tell the sideline reporters that I spit on you? If I spit on you, you are trying to get to me. You not trying to make up a story so you can look like a good guy. It makes no sense to me.
After the incident, Rondo said he was provoked into throwing a punch after Paul poked a finger into his face and left a scratch under his right eye, league sources said.
Let’s take a closer look below:
Spicy Hours have remained open this weekend, thanks to extra work from Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo. (via @Rachel__Nichols)pic.twitter.com/mSgzbZ5ADN
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) October 21, 2018
Chris Paul can definitely be annoying on the court. I think it’s because he’s a smallish guy, who has to get under people’s skin. That’s how he plays, although he does look like a nice guy on appearances alone.