| | HOUSTON -- Los Angeles center Shaquille O'Neal and Houston
forward Charles Barkley were ejected from Wednesday night's game
after a heated scuffle under the basket with 9:03 to go in the
second quarter.
The Lakers eventually won the game 89-88, handing the Rockets their fifth straight loss to start the season.
Barkley tried to go up for a layup and was blocked under the
basket by O'Neal and the ball went out of bounds. Barkley retrieved
the ball and got a small shove from O'Neal.
Barkley then threw the ball at O'Neal and the two players went
for each other, going to the floor as players and coaches from both
teams rushed in to stop it.
It was O'Neal's second ejection in five days. He was tossed
Saturday at Portland when he retaliated for what he thought were
overly aggressive fouls against him
On Tuesday night, the Dallas Mavericks purposely fouled O'Neal,
who made only 3-for-14 from the free throw line.
O'Neal did not shoot a free throw before his ejection Wednesday
night and remained 23-for-65 on the season, a 35.4 percentage.
O'Neal had seven points and six rebounds when ejected. Barkley had
five points and four rebounds
The Lakers led 30-26 when the game was stopped. Glen Rice hit
one of the two technical shots following O'Neal's ejection and
Thomas Hamilton missed both shots for the Rockets. | |
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Shaq, Barkley ejected but Rockets big losers, dropping to 0-5
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