The Los Angeles Lakers seemed to get rattled going against a hampered Golden State Warriors team without its All-Star backcourt of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, and defensive anchor Draymond Green.
Lakers forward Julius Randle and point guard Isaiah Thomas, who was inserted in the starting lineup for the absent Brandon Ingram, got into a fiery exchange in the huddle, but later shaking hands to squash whatever argument caused the tension.
Both players eventually downplayed any tension between them, saying it's only a part of playing basketball.
Isaiah Thomas and Julius Randle shake hands and squash their beef pic.twitter.com/M89hJRGGxT
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) March 15, 2018
Randle said they were “just communicating,” according to Bill Oram of The Orange County Register.
Thomas assures it was only “two basketball players competing.”
Their head coach, Luke Walton said: “I love it.”
This is not the first time two Lakers have gotten it on, as Thomas was previously caught on camera having an argument with Kyle Kuzma after a blown defensive switch.
“I’m a leader,” Thomas said. “It’s not me getting after anybody, it’s just me leading. If I see something I’m going to say something that goes vice versa, if they see something they should say something.”
Randle was clearly frustrated addressing reporters, but not upset with Thomas, rather at the blown opportunity over a hobbled Warriors team that had now swept their season series (4-0) with ease.
“There’s nobody I’d rather go to war with than I.T.” said Randle. “So it’s nothing personal, we’re just trying to get the best out of each other and win the game.”
Both players will have to learn to coexist throughout the remainder of the season, even if that means constantly keeping each other accountable during timeouts.
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