In Sunday's playoff preview game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, the end of the first half was marred by an ugly incident involving Metta World Peace.
After throwing in a dunk with 1:37 left in the second quarter, a pumped-up World Peace threw a vicious elbow to the side of the head of James Harden, who had to leave the game.
World Peace was immediately called for a flagrant two and ejected from the game. As you can see in the video, the Thunder took extreme offense at the thrown elbow and World Peace looked immediately ready to throw down.
World Peace tried to explain to referees that he was just energetically celebrating his dunk and Harden got in his way. Which almost makes sense when you look at this GIF:
You can pretty much pinpoint the exact moment when "pounding my chest" becomes "THROWIN' 'BOWS." (Hint: it's somewhere right before he elbows Harden in the head.) Kevin Durant at halftime said, "It's not a basketball play, man. It's unfortunate that he hit James like that."
World Peace will likely be facing disciplinary action for this incident.
For all news and information regarding the Los Angeles Lakers, please visit Silver Screen and Roll.