Prior to the Washington Wizards playing the Orlando Magic Wednesday, head coach Wes Unseld Jr. was asked about the physical confrontation between Montrezl Harrell and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope at halftime of Tuesday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“Really nothing there to comment about,” Unseld said per Andrew Gillis of NBC Sports Washington. “Obviously at the half we weren’t playing well. Our main focus, our only focus, was, ‘What can we do to change that?’ I thought it was great we responded well. We came out and played much better in the second half.”
According to the Athletic’s Shams Charania, tension between Harrell and Caldwell-Pope rose to the level that both threw punches at each other. Neither landed according to the report.
Harrell was upset that Caldwell-Pope didn’t pass the ball to him on the Wizards’ final possession of the first half.
Wednesday, Harrell commented that the incident was just “a part of competitive nature.”
The Wizards trailed the Thunder 61-58 at halftime. But, they responded in the second half, beating Oklahoma City 122-118.
Harrell and Caldwell-Pope have been teammates for the past two seasons, playing last season with the Los Angeles Lakers. The fight caught headlines for a team that is trying to jell with a bunch of new pieces that include the two.
However, disagreements with teammates are a common thing. As long as cooler heads prevailed and the team can move on, this incident will be forgotten over time.
