STAPLES Center had some extra energy for the Lakers’ 2018-19 home opener.
Celebrities dotted the sidelines, and fans throughout the arena roared throughout the night as the world’s greatest player, LeBron James, debuted in front of his new home crowd.
With that electricity in the building, the Lakers dueled with the Houston Rockets — owners of last year’s best record in the league — down to crunch time.
But with L.A. trailing by just one with 4:13 remaining, the game turned into a fracas.
Brandon Ingram fouled James Harden in transition and wasn’t happy with the call. Neither was Rajon Rondo, who entered a verbal altercation with Chris Paul.
But words soon turned to action, as Rondo and Paul exchanged punches, while Ingram threw a strike of his own. After referees sorted out the melee, all three players were ejected.
Rondo and Ingram did not speak with the media after the game.
“He’s usually quiet,” JaVale McGee said of Ingram. “But, I mean, you poke a bear you’re gonna get bit.”
Lakers coach Luke Walton felt that the scrum was an escalation from a play that happened five minutes earlier.
That was when Josh Hart sprinted to the rim for a layup, but was wrapped around the neck by the arm of James Ennis III, who was assessed a flagrant foul type one, instead of a flagrant two, which would have resulted in ejection.
Walton said that foul assessment left his players “a little irritated.”
“I have zero idea how that’s a flagrant one,” Walton said. “He clotheslined our guy. He picked him up off his feet and slammed him on his back, and it was a flagrant one.”
The game itself
The skirmish took several minutes to clear up, making for a jarring transition back to basketball.
Harden made a pair of technical free throws to push Houston’s lead to three. The Lakers pulled within two with 2:51 remaining, but 3-pointers by Harden and P.J. Tucker were enough to guide Houston to a 124-115 win.
“We were right there,” James said. “It was a one-point game [at the time of the incident] and we had opportunities to win the game.”
James led the Lakers with 24 points, but needed 22 shot attempts to reach that total. He was especially effective early on — punishing Houston in the post — but hit just 1-of-8 in the fourth quarter.
When Houston broke out its dangerous small-ball lineup, James played the center position for the first time as a Laker. He and Kyle Kuzma both saw time at the five-position and showed encouraging signs.
Meanwhile, traditional center JaVale McGee was excellent, packing 16 points, six rebounds and five blocks into just 20 minutes of playing time. He was an active scorer in the half-court and a reliable rim protector against a high-flying Rockets offense.
“I feel like we played amazing tonight,” McGee said. “And I feel like the fight probably put us back. If there wasn’t the fight, we probably would have won that game.”
And while the Lakers shot poorly from 3-point range (8-of-32) for the second straight game, Lonzo Ball took full advantage of the space Houston gave him by hitting 4-of-8 from deep toward 14 points.
However, it was not enough to overcome Harden, the reigning MVP, who scored 36 points, while Paul added 28 and 10 assists.
But LeBron did not lose composure over his team’s 0-2 start.
“I’m not disappointed at all,” James said. “I understand that we’re going to have some early struggles. Nobody said it’s going to be easy. I’m not disappointed in nothing we did tonight.”
Notes
Rondo had 13 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, while Ingram provided 12 points. … The Lakers scored 22 fast-break points and had only 10 turnovers. … Jack Nicholson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Adam Levine, Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Kate Beckinsale, Kendall Jenner, Travis Scott and Jonah Hill were among the sold-out crowd.