Lakers, Rockets brawl in LA; Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo, Brandon Ingram ejected

Tom Gatto

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Lakers, Rockets brawl in LA; Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo, Brandon Ingram ejected image

The Lakers and Rockets engaged in a full-out brawl Saturday night in Los Angeles that resulted in ejections for the Rockets' Chris Paul and the Lakers' Rajon Rondo and Brandon Ingram.

Paul and Rondo traded punches in the fourth quarter after Paul appeared to poke Rondo in the eye. Paul told ESPN, which was televising the game, that Rondo spat in his face beforehand.

Ingram appeared to land a punch on Paul while that skirmish was happening.

The incident began after Ingram shoved Houston's James Harden, whom Ingram had fouled as Harden drove to the basket.

MORE: LeBron scores 24 in another Lakers loss

The Los Angeles Times reported that Paul and Rondo declined to comment after the game.

Paul, Rondo and Ingram are likely to receive lengthy suspensions from the NBA for their trouble.

The players duked it out in front of boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., who had a ringside, er, courtside seat.

The Rockets won the game, LeBron James' first home contest as a Laker, 124-115.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.