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According to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News, Booker pushed Julius Randle, who then backed away from the play. However, Hibbert confronted Booker (and bumped him in the process), and the Utah forward took a swing at the Los Angeles big man.
The Lakers noted Booker was ejected for the swing, although Hibbert received a technical foul for confronting Booker in the first place. Here is a look at the incident:
Safe to say, Draymond Green of the defending champion Golden State Warriors was not impressed:
Fights are never a good idea in the NBA with potential game-changing technical fouls and ejections (or fines) looming as likely consequences. Players do get caught up in the moment during competition between the best in the world, but rarely is the intensity high enough in the preseason to merit that type of reaction.
Along those lines, Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports responded to Wednesday’s incident by saying, “Fellas, it's preseason. You're in Hawaii. Is this really the time to ask what the 5 fingers said to the face?”
Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report praised Booker’s fire but also added it is “just flat-out foolish” to throw a punch in the preseason.
While it was foolish, the four regular-season contests between these two teams that did not make the playoffs last year and face an uphill battle in the loaded Western Conference this year will be more interesting if there is lingering tension from this scuffle.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
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