LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chris Paul came back to Staples Center to play against his old team and things got heated.
The final minutes of the game were filled with technical fouls, ejections, swearing, bumping — and that was just the beginning.
Lou Williams scored 31 points, Blake Griffin added 29 before his ejection, and the Los Angeles Clippers beat Paul and the Houston Rockets 113-102 on Monday night for their fifth victory in a row.
The tempers that flared during the fourth quarter carried over after the game, when several security guards were present outside the Houston locker room. Several Rockets players headed toward the Clippers' locker room, seeking a confrontation, but were escorted away by security before anything got physical.
Asked about that, Clippers coach Doc Rivers would only say his team was in its own locker room.
"Their entire team was not in their locker room," he said, referring to the Rockets.
Paul had 19 points, six rebounds and seven assists for the Rockets, whose three-game winning streak ended.
"It's always like that when you lose, especially when you're playing against a former team, all the emotions that go into it, familiar faces and stuff like that," Paul said. "For us, we've got to be better. Give them the credit, they won the game."
Things got testy with 3½ minutes to go. Griffin scored under the basket and Paul was called for a foul. Paul ran over to the referees in disbelief. On his way back up court, Griffin went out of bounds and bumped Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni, who became irate and cursed in Griffin's direction.
"After he said what he said, I said the same thing back," Griffin said.
Asked what he said, D'Antoni replied, "You mean after he hit me? Just that I didn't appreciate him. But other than that, it's good."
