Lost in the hullabaloo of a locker room confrontation in Los Angeles on Monday night between Houston Rockets and the Clippers, filled with personal history and elaborate planning, was a budding feud between a Sixers rookie and Raptors All-Star from earlier in the day.
Ben Simmons and Kyle Lowry caught attention when both were ejected from Monday's game (with only six seconds remaining in a Sixers win) at Wells Fargo Center and Simmons, the Sixers' point guard, gestured Lowry to meet him in the tunnel.
After the game, Simmons used strong language to say that just because he's a rookie doesn't mean he won't stand up for himself when an opposing player tries to rattle him, whether that's Lowry, Boston Celtics' forward Marcus Morris or anyone else.
Tuesday, Lowry said he was, in fact, waiting for Simmons.
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"Put it this way: I was back there," Lowry told Rogers Sportsnet reporter Michael Grange, who is based in Toronto.
Per Grange, the NBA is looking into the matter.
Simmons indicated he never actually met Lowry after the game, and wasn't sure of his whereabouts. Sixers staff said there was no way the two could have met due to locker room arrangements following a leak at the Wells Fargo Center.
Here's some of what Simmons had to say on Monday after the game about his scuffle with Lowry, a Villanova product and Philadelphia native. The rest is covered here.
"I just went to the locker room," Simmons said. "I don't know where he's at."
The Simmons-Lowry spat wasn't the only scuffle at Monday's game, either.
Zack Rosenblatt may be reached at zsr1090@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZackBlatt. Find NJ.com on Facebook.