A high-scoring affair between the Los Angeles Lakers and the New Orleans Pelicans was marred by a double ejection of opposing point guards — Isaiah Thomas and Rajon Rondo — as the two were handed double technical fouls and consequently tossed in the first quarter. Thomas, however, feels his ejection was soundly unjust.

“Whatever reason, he's an upset guy about me,” Thomas said after Wednesday's game, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “I don't know what it is, but it's fine. He kept bringing the tribute up, when I was the one that shut the tribute down. I'm far past that… For me to be ejected was uncalled for.”

The “beef” between these two players apparently emerged from Rondo feeling Thomas was undeserving a tribute by his former team, the Boston Celtics, after merely playing two-and-a-half seasons with the franchise.

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Rondo has been known to be a trash-talker with some NBA players, and Thomas was his pick of the day after the latter is wearing his third jersey in the span of eight months. Yet the mercurial point guard has been known to be a ticking time bomb at times, leaving Thomas puzzled about what might have triggered his anger.

“I mean, my team beat his team in the playoffs last year,” Thomas said, referring to the Celtics beating the Chicago Bulls 4-2 in the first round last postseason. “Maybe that is what's wrong. I don't know. There's nothing. Nothing should've made that escalate like it did. He already had his agenda written down right when I checked into the game. It was obvious. He picked me up full court, trying to be physical.

“I don't know what was going on with him. I don't know why I got thrown out. I don't want to comment too much on it… It was obvious what was going on. He was being too aggressive for whatever reason, and he also hit me in the face three times. At some point, as a human, if no one is going to protect me, I got to protect myself, and that is when I spoke up and got upset. I hope the NBA figures something out with that, because it was wrong for me to be ejected.”

The league will review these two ejections, as they do with every ejection the following day.