I was going to throw a bunch of the Chandler vs. Przybilla stuff in a few Lagniappe posts, but figured it would be easier to keep it all together in a blog post instead. First, here's some video (via Bust a Bucket) of last night's incident:

(My favorite part of that video: The same old guy in the stands at 1:21 and 3:57, first heckling Tyson and then waving him goodbye after TC got hit with the ejection. I love old people.)

I watched the game last night on CST, so I got the Bob and Gil commentary. The video above has the Blazers' announcers, who a lot of commenters had complaints about in yesterday's game thread.

Jason Quick of The Oregonian has a bunch of good stories and quotes from Chandler and Przybilla regarding the incident. A few of those...

"He cries about everything," Przybilla said.

Chandler estimates he has been ejected four times in his eight NBA seasons. Three have come in the Rose Garden, and two have been direct confrontations with Przybilla. It's strange, too, because Chandler is as pleasant and articulate as they come.

"I have nothing against him, and I hope he has nothing against me," Chandler said. "Tempers flared. That's about it."

...

"I've been playing against him for a long time, and we both knew coming in that neither one was going to back down from the other," Przybilla said. "I don't know what it is, but we are two strong-willed people and we aren't going to back down from anyone."

...

"I told him he cries more than my 3-year-old son," Przybilla said. "He got mad."

On the ensuing possession, Przybilla reached out with his injured left hand and touched the stomach of Chandler. Chandler angrily swatted the hand down.

"I didn't know he had a bad hand," Chandler said. "No. Not at all."

He paused.

"If he is worried about that, he should keep it off people," Chandler said.

...

During the delay, [Przybilla] caught himself chuckling at himself as he looked into the stands and saw his wife, Noelle, shaking her head at him. He was glad he didn't throw a punch, because he knew he would have to deal with her wrath.

"I ain't swinging back, because I'm not getting suspended," Przybilla said. "I don't want to stay at home when I'm suspended because the whole time during the game my wife would be busting on me; 'Why aren't you playing? Look how much money you lost ...'"

A few of my own thoughts and notes on the whole thing:

  • I was expecting to read a lot from Blazer fans and media about Chandler intentionally going after Joel's injured wrist, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Good thing, too, because I really don't believe that Tyson would try hurt an opponent like that. We've read his blog and followed him closely for a few years now. I don't believe he's that type of dude.

  • Reading the comments from both players in Quick's article, there seems to be a healthy respect there between them. There's also a lot of animosity and perhaps even hate, sure, but methinks they both see the same warrior mentality in each other. They're not all that different at the end of the day.

  • If the Hornets had folded after the altercation and lost the game, I'm sure we'd all be pissed at Tyson for getting ejected. TC should be very thankful to Hilton Armstrong for coming in and playing brilliantly in his absence.

  • From the Media Row Report at Blazer's Edge: "Did you see how Chandler left the court only after delivering messages to each of his teammates?"

  • The correct spelling of Przybilla's name has finally stuck with me.

And finally, an enduring image of the incident (be sure to check out At The Hive's slightly modified version):

Joel Przybilla and Tyson Chandler square off