The Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets are the talk of the NBA after getting involved in an actual fight just five days into the new season.
Skirmishes and altercations occur in many games. But this one was pure, unbridled fisticuffs - with Floyd Mayweather treated to both an entertaining game and a fight for the price of one, with the retired boxer sitting in the front row as players threw down.
Lakers forward Brandon Ingram was the one who started the whole thing by fouling James Harden and then shoving him in the back. And the game would have probably carried on shortly after had Rajon Rondo not spit in Chris Paul's face, prompting the Rockets guard to poke him in his own face.
PREVIOUSLY: MASSIVE BRAWL BREAKS OUT DURING ROCKETS & LAKERS GAME [VIDEO]
Rondo responded to Paul's actions by throwing and connecting with a left hook of sorts, but Paul got him back with two solid punches before the pair were successfully pulled apart.
Below are reactions from some of the players as cited by ESPN:
Melo is probably very correct here...
That's unacceptable. You don't do that to nobody -- in sports, on the street. That's blatant disrespect. You don't do that. That's unacceptable. ... You don't even see that in the streets, man. I don't know what else to say about that. - Carmelo Anthony
Well, it worked.
I felt like the other team was trying to provoke us, and we fell for it. I think they were picking on [Ingram], and that is why I tried to grab him as quickly as possible and tell him, 'Hey, don't fall for the trick,'. I guess we fell for it. - Lance Stephenson
Also, probably correct.
We played amazing tonight, and I feel like the fight probably put us back. If there wasn't the fight, we probably would have won that game. - JaVale McGee
McGee was asked if he'd ever seen Ingram in such a mood.
No," he said. "If you poke the bear, you're bound to get bit."
What does he know, though? He hasn't been a Laker that long...
Anyhoo, the beard's the word.
I mean, Chris had to stand up for himself. It is what it is. I don't care what man, anywhere, anytime, NBA game or in the streets. - James Harden
LeBron James, meanwhile, wouldn't get drawn into saying too much on the brawl despite reporters' best efforts.
I just tried to calm things down, that's all. Play basketball. - LeBron James
"When you wake up tomorrow, it's a new day," the new Lakers star added. "It's a new opportunity and you leave things in the past and get on with the future. Tonight, whenever time guys go to bed, when they wake up tomorrow, they got a fresh mind and they can move on."