John Lucas and Francisco Garcia gave us one of those classic “hold me back” fights for the ages.
It all started when Lucas went for a steal in the final 10 seconds of Utah’s blowout loss in Houston instead of allowing Rockets rookie Isaiah Canaan to dribble out the clock. Garcia and many other Rockets chased after Lucas, and Garcia appeared to give him a shove. Lucas responded with a hard shove and then raised his fists like he wanted to box.
The two held up their dukes opposite each other, but they weren’t exactly toe-to-toe, if you know what I mean.
Lucas was all “Come at me bro!” to Garcia but you could tell neither guy really wanted to fight.
Lucas said his actions were the product of a lot of frustration. We’ll let Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune fill us in on the details:
Lucas: "We're already getting beat real bad and they still want to be showing off and doing stuff like that, so I stole the ball.
— Aaron Falk (@tribjazz) March 18, 2014
Lucas shoved Garcia after what he called a "cheap shot" to his ribs. Said he had cooled down though and said the steal was "messed up."
— Aaron Falk (@tribjazz) March 18, 2014
Lucas was frustrated by the blowout, but he's also been frustrated with the year as a whole: all the losses, the lack of playing time.
— Aaron Falk (@tribjazz) March 18, 2014
"I just feel like built up frustration, maybe for the whole year. It just triggered something and it triggered me to do what I had to do."
— Aaron Falk (@tribjazz) March 18, 2014
Lucas apologized via Twitter after the game and said his mom was there watching, which made him feel even worse:
I picked a great game to have my mom in the crowd. Utah, I apologize. I just hate losing, I always will.
— John Lucas III (@Luke1luk) March 18, 2014
