Julius Randle & Isaiah Thomas On Their Heated Exchange During A Timeout

With the Warriors missing half of their roster, temperamental Lakers Julius Randle and Isaiah Thomas decided they should start a fight with each other on Wednesday night.

I'm semi joking.

When asked about their little (no pun intended) disagreement during a third quarter timeout, Randle -- fresh off of wanting to beat up Nokic the night before -- said it was just two teammates trying to get the best out of each other.

"Ah man. It was great, honestly. We expect a lot out of each other and it was just communicating man. We want to win, we expect to win these games and we expect each other to play at a certain level, so it was just us being teammates. There's nobody I'd rather go to war with than IT. So it's nothing personal, we're just trying to get the best out of each other and win the game.

"Yeah, man, that's my dude. He's been great since he's came in. Like I said, it's nothing personal, man. We're just trying to bring the best out of each other and push each other."

Thomas -- fresh off of trolling Jamal Murray & breaking Nokic's ankles -- agreed with Randle and said he's just trying to be a leader and communicating with his team.

"Nothing. Just two basketball players competing. That's all it was. Happy to be yelling. We want the best for each other, we just want to win. We're two leaders on the team that we're competing on and it was a misunderstanding at one point and we talked about it and we're good. As teammates should.

"I'm a leader. It's not me getting after anybody, it's just me leading. If I see something, I'm going to say something, that goes vice versa, if they see something they should say something. That's just how it's supposed to be on a basketball team, so there's no calling nobody out, no getting on nobody, just doing what's best for this team."

Lonzo Ball, who pushed Randle away from Thomas during the time-out and broke Shaun Livingston's ankles (I hate to say "broke" and "Shaun Livingston" in the same sentence since his broken leg injury in 2007 was one of the worst I've ever seen), gave his two cents about teammates arguing.

"It has a positive and negative affect depending on how the guys are arguing and going about it. If they are arguing and it messes with their heads, then obviously it is negative. But if it starts a spark and they hash it out and get back on the court and play even harder, then it is a positive.

And here's what Coach Luke Walton had to say about starter Thomas and the man he calls "the best one-on-one defender in the league."

"I told them afterward, I love it. As long as they're open-minded and whatever they were arguing about, they get it figured out. We have been trying to get our guys to talk all year long and if it is a heated conversation, that means it is two people that are passionate about something and we will take that on our team any day."

Despite all the love and 20+ points from Thomas, Randle and Lopez, the Lakers lost to the short-handed Warriors (Who is Chris Boucher?) by 11.

SOURCE: ESPN