Los Angeles Lakers forward Matt Barnes punches a rival player in San Francisco – NBA Update
Los Angeles Lakers forward Matt Barnes is more famous because of his squabbles rather than his play. It was just in last September, that Barnes was arrested for domestic violence. It was the same time during which he was recovering from his knee injury that kept him on the sidelines for a lion’s share of the season. Then in April, he unleashed his wrath on the Dallas Mavericks assistant coach and shoved him to the ground.
On Thursday, during a pro-am game in San Francisco, Barnes added yet another list of awkward events on his not so impressive resume when he punched a rival player. Being brutally honest, some will say naive, Barnes did not shy away from the incident and told the media that he was only responding and was not the instigator
When asked about the occurrence, he replied in his typical style,
“That's part of the game, man. It's physical. You know what I mean? People come out here and think they can beat and push on me. There's only so much I'm going to take. I'm a grown man first, so if you think you're going to come out here and rough me up and cheap shot, I'm not having that s__.”
“He elbowed me and pushed me, so he got one. People just think they can talk any way or do anything to ... me. You can't. You can't do that, cuz you know people are men out here. So if you think you're going to come out here and punk someone, that s__ ain't happening.”
The officials didn’t eject Barnes over his dim act though as they said they didn’t see him hitting the opposing player. This incident comes on the same day, when Michael Beasley, the Minnesota Timberwolves small forward, hit a fan during a game.
As far as the Lakers fans are concerned, it is good enough to seen Barnes making a recovery from his knee injury. The Lockout has given him more time to rest his injury and by taking part in the pro-am games, he is gradually tuning himself towards full game fitness. If full fit, he could play a major rule in Mike Brown’s defense first scheme of things. He is fast, athletic and with only one year left on his contract with the Lakers, he will be desperate to prove his worth.
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