The Los Angeles Lakers' blowout win against the Dallas Mavericks last week had plenty of highlights, but none more talked about than the spat between Matt Barnes and Jason Terry in the fourth quarter.
↵↵After Terry knocked L.A.'s Steve Blake to the floor with a hard foul, Barnes interceded and gave Terry a piece of his mind. He later shoved Mavericks assistant coach Terry Stotts, who was trying to restrain him from behind. Barnes earned two technical fouls, was ejected, and later suspended without pay for a game.
↵↵Despite the financial penalty, the Lakers' fiery forward told Tony Bruno, "I would probably do the same thing again," in an interview. Barnes further explains his behavior:
↵↵↵↵“That’s just my teammate. All the unnecessary contact is exactly what I said earlier, it was unnecessary. I had my teammate's back and basketball is starting to pick up now. We’re all fighting for playoff position and maybe it was a hard type of playoff foul, but at the same time we had to let him know that you’re not going to come into our house and throw our team around like that.â€
Barnes also said, "I accept responsibility for what I did." He summarized his decision to engage Terry by saying, "it’s sending a message and setting a tone to let everyone know the playoffs are coming."