Houston Rockets: Chris Paul’s reaction to Rajon Rondo was the right one

Houston Rockets guard Chris Paul will be suspended two games for his role in a brief altercation with Rajon Rondo last night. Was it fair? Let’s look.

The Houston Rockets were able to net their first win of the season over the Los Angeles Lakers amid a excruciatingly embarrassing 131-112 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans this past Wednesday.  The Houston Rockets were able to outlast the Lakers 124-115 in a matchup that definitely had the characteristics of being a Hollywood movie script.  It’s L.A. right?

Well this game invoked plenty of emotion and drama to have all of our eyes peeled on what’s going to happen next in such a blockbuster matchup.

However, with 4:13 left in the 4th quarter of last night’s rumble, an interesting twist of a story occurred between Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo.  The two have a beef that dates back a long time and both were definitely in their feelings with last night’s match up.

Back to what happened, Rondo allegedly spit directly in Paul’s face after the two were eyeballing each other down during a dead ball whistled down.  All of a sudden, Paul threw some punches, Rondo retaliated.  Brandon Ingram, who was at mid-court, raced over to the middle of the brawl to get some blows of his own in.  The move was particularly uncharacteristic of Ingram who usually is mild-mannered.

Obviously, Ingram has a tremendous level of respect for Rondo or he wouldn’t have gone those lengths to help protect his teammate.

Here’s the video from the live ESPN feed from last night’s game via Rachel Nichols and you be the judge:

And here’s a closer look via Alykhan Bijani of the Athletic:

Regardless of who you think is in the wrong, Ingram has been suspended for four games while Rondo will be out for three and Paul for two.  Rondo did suffer a minor cut under his right eye from CP3’s punch so aside from all of the melodrama that the situation invoked, he’ll have a reminder for awhile about what was allegedly done to Paul.

All three were ejected from the game as a result of their roles.

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Here’s what I think. CP3’s reaction to Rondo was on point.  Yes, it shouldn’t have been done but you mean to tell me if somebody intentionally spit in your face that you wouldn’t retaliate?  It’s understandable and that’s why he was suspended for the least amount of games among the three.

Had CP3 not thrown a punch at all, I doubt that he wouldn’t have been suspended nor this whole incident happening at all.  But we know CP3 the basketball player and he’s as real as they come.  There no way he’d tolerate such a despicable act that I think Rondo committed.

But all in all, we know CP3 is good for a scuffle or two with every season as he usually has some beef with somebody that they play.  He talks a lot of trash too so it’s just going to happen.

Remember the alleged secret passageway incident at Staples Center against the Los Angeles Clippers last year?  Paul was getting into it with then-Clipper Blake Griffin and the situation spilled over into well after the completion of the game.  If anything, it makes the Houston Rockets even more interesting to watch.

Paul will miss tonight’s match up with the Clippers as well as Wednesday’s home tilt with the Utah Jazz.  Ultimately, the Rockets will be fine and Eric Gordon will just have to play more minutes for the next two games.

What a game and what a night — can’t wait until these two teams face each other once again Dec. 13, the first game fans get to see LeBron James and the Lakers do battle with the Rockets.

Let’s go!