There was plenty of drama during last night's Rockets, Mavericks game including eight technical fouls and Trevor Ariza's ejection, which was a result of his confrontation with Mavs big man Salah Mejri.
According to reports, Mejri made derogatory comments about Ariza's wife and kids between the third and fourth quarters. When the game ended Ariza was waiting by the Mavs locker room to confront Mejri, although Dallas police officers were there to make sure the situation didn't escalate.
"I don't know what they were on tonight," Harden said after the game, according to ESPN.com's Calvin Watkins. "That other team was tripping tonight. They were disrespectful, were unprofessional players and coaches. I don't know what was their problem, but I think that got us going. They wanted to throw a little cheap shot and just woke us up a little bit, and it was over from there."
Mejri ultimately denied saying anything about Ariza's family, but as Watkins noted this type of behavior is out of character for Ariza.
In addition to Harden's comments about the Mavericks players and coaches being disrespectful, Patrick Beverley, who didn't play in the chippy contest, added the following.
Despite all the drama, Houston won 123-107, completing a 4-game season sweep of the Mavs, improving to 24-9 on the season. Check out some of the footage from Ariza's on-court confrontation with Mejri below.
