Things got heated up between Texas rivals Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday. Rockets players tried to confront Maverick's center Salah Mejri outside the locker room after allegedly saying bad things about Trevor Ariza's wife.
Despite the Rockets taking home a 123-107 rout of the Mavericks, it did not hold back Ariza alongside James Harden, Eric Gordon and Patrick Beverly. They waited outside the Dallas locker room in an attempt to confront Mejri, who said derogatory statements about Ariza's wife and kids, ESPN reported.
It was a physical night for both teams with officials calling eight technical fouls. Ariza was at the receiving end of one of the technical fouls as he got ejected in the fourth quarter. Before leaving the court, he exchanged words with Mavericks personnel.
The Rockets swingman was needed to be restrained by a Rockets security guard before things escalated. Dallas coach Rick Carlisle was also slapped a technical following an exchange of words with Ariza.
Mejri, however, denied the allegations and said that he "would never insult an opponent's family regardless of how much a player insulted" him repeatedly, Houston Chronicle reported. The Tunisian baller added that basketball players are role models to kids and he values respect.
Rockets star Harden could not keep his frustration over the Mavericks when he talked to the media, saying that Dallas' players and coaches were "disrespectful" and "unprofessional." He added that he did not know what was going on with the Mavericks but whatever it was, it drove the Rockets to win the game.
Beverly also expressed his disappointment by saying that the Mavericks disrespected the game of basketball. During the game, he yelled at Carlisle mockingly. He said, "Way to be an icon, Coach. Have a nice season, Coach."
Watch the video below to see the game's highlights