Frustrations boiled over on the Los Angeles Lakers’ bench during the second quarter of Friday night’s loss to the Phoenix Suns when Dwight Howard and Anthony Davis exchanged shoves after disagreeing on a pick-and-roll coverage.
While it’s not surprising to see the Lakers be frustrated in the midst of their second loss to begin the season after going 0-6 in the preseason, it was a bit surprising to see things get physical between Howard and Davis.
Both players downplayed the incident after the game, with Howard saying they already ‘squashed’ their beef and are back to being brothers.
Still though, Howard revealed after the game that losing specifically to the Suns led to the Lakers’ frustration and they need to do a better job of controlling that.
“This is the team that put us out of the playoffs last year,” Howard said. “We were already agitated about that they beat us in the playoffs. It was like man not tonight, we can’t let it happen. They beat us in the preseason. We were like nah, nah, nah. Everybody was upset. We just got to control our emotions and we’re going to figure it out. We got 80 more games. Yeah, everybody.
“Even Coach said he got to get better controlling his emotions. He got a technical foul. So we all got to understand that we got to stay positive but we also got to stay humble. Stay humble. We’re going to get what we need to get out of this season. Got to stay humble. Got to stay positive.”
It’s interesting to hear Howard say that the Suns were the team that put “us” out of the playoffs last year considering he wasn’t on the Lakers at the time. That just shows that he is a team player though and understands how some of the other players in the locker room feel about the situation, which is good to see from a veteran of his stature.
Howard’s response to incident with Davis
Many wondered after the incident with Howard and Davis if that will be cause for concern between the two teammates moving forward, but the former doesn’t believe there’s anything to worry about.
“We just squashed it right then and there. We just had a disagreement about something else on the floor. So we’re both very passionate about winning, we didn’t want to lose this game so we both are just very passionate it. We got it out the way. We’re grown men, things happen but we already talked. Squashed it. That’s my brother, that’s my teammate,” Howard said.
“That’s what I told him, I’ll always be no matter what. I’m always fighting for you where I can. We’re good. We squashed it. There is no need to try to make it bigger than something else.”
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