James Harden elbows Metta World Peace in the face on the sneak tip (VIDEO)
It's just like my dude Marie Joseph Eugène Sue wrote in "Mathilde" — "La vengeance se mange très-bien froide." (Some people might know "Revenge is a dish best served cold" from "The Godfather," but I feel pretty confident that the Thursday morning crowd at BDL has its "1841 French novels" game on lock.) Twenty-five days isn't necessarily that deep a freeze, but the elbow that James Harden put in the middle of the face of Metta World Peace during the Oklahoma City Thunder's Game 2 win on Wednesday probably still felt pretty arctic to the Los Angeles Lakers forward.
[Johnny Ludden: Lakers' Kobe Bryant fails in crunch time against the Thunder]
Coming with the shot clock winding down during a late first-quarter scramble situation and resulting from a Harden behind-the-back dribble to evade a World Peace steal attempt, the left 'bow — captured above by our friends at the Yahoo! Sports Minute — seemed unintentional and was clearly nowhere near as violent as the World Peace shot that floored, concussed and sidelined Harden four Sundays ago. Still, you don't imagine Harden minded creating the contact too much; somewhere beneath all that beard, there may even have been a trace of a smile.
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Of course, because no act of physicality visited upon the former Ron Artest can expect to simply slide past, MWP came back in the second quarter with an answer befitting wrestling legend Stan "The Lariat" Hansen:
From J. Michael Falgoust of USA Today:
World Peace got a measure of revenge on Harden in the second quarter. Trying to get around a screen by Thunder forward Nick Collison, World Peace chased Harden and literally clotheslined Collison across the chest to cause a turnover.
A foul wasn't called. World Peace was fouled in transition but hit both free throws.
Shrewd officiating there. Here's hoping this escalation of aggression abates by the time we get to Game 3 in Los Angeles on Friday night. Sure, we all want to see Nazr Mohammed try to superkick Pau Gasol, if only for the GIFs, but an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. I think Dr. O'Neal said that.
Feel free to peruse the inadvertent elbow elsewhere, thanks to KnicksHighlights16.
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