It has been more than six years since the Tunnelgate incident between the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers. Yet, it remains one of the most hilarious NBA-related events at Staple Center (now called Crypto.com Arena.)
Former Clippers star DeAndre Jordan shared his side of the story in a recent appearance on Paul George's podcast, recalling how emotional the evening was for many players and trying to pacify what could have been a testy confrontation between presumably Austin Rivers and Trevor Ariza.
"I don't wanna say those players' names, but you guys could kinda guess who those guys were," Jordan told George and the viewers. "One guy is from the great city of Los Angeles, and the other guy is from the great state of Florida. You know how the hallway is — the visitor's side, if you walk through the back, you can get to the Clippers' locker room."
"So, I'm sitting at my locker...and then all of a sudden, I see the homie from the Rockets right here. I'm like, 'What are you doing? You can't be up in here. Get out. What you doing?'" Deandre added.
Searching for Rivers
DJ didn't want to spill the names, but stories that proliferated about the incident years ago specifically identified Rivers , who hails from Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, as the Rockets' target. The guy Jordan was talking about in his story is likely Ariza, as he seems to be the only notable Houston player at the time whose hometown is Miami, Florida.
Because he was friends with Ariza , the big man tried to defuse the situation by leading the former Rocket to the exit. However, Ariza refused to go away and kept looking for the "motherf***** right there."
"I'm like, 'Nah, bro. You gotta get out of here,'" Jordan continued. "I got my boot on. I'm trying to push my dawg outta here because we have a relationship. ... When I push him out to the hallway, I see the whole Rockets team, and I'm like, 'Oh, sh*t. This ain't for me.'"
Funnily enough, DJ found himself in front of what he said were all 15 players from the Rockets squad. But he didn't back down, telling them they had to leave and defending Rivers from facing a scary situation himself.
Fortunately for Jordan, the entire Clippers team backed him up, with one of his teammates even holding a weight in their hands. While he admitted that the tension was escalating, the one-time All-Star also acknowledged that no one in the league "wanna fight." Security then came and escorted the Rockets back to their locker room.
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A guided expedition from CP3
As DJ mentioned, the game then was an emotional affair, partly because it was Chris Paul 's first time playing against his previous team as a Rocket. There were plenty of trash talks thrown around, and Rivers may have gone a bit too far despite wearing a suit that evening because of an injury.
The commotion quickly became a stuff of legend online, with Paul being at the forefront of the headlines for supposedly being the only one who has memorized the tunnels in the arena. But some may have forgotten that Ariza also used to call the stadium his home, having played for the Los Angeles Lakers for two seasons many years back.
Jordan may have also forgotten to discuss an important piece of information from that evening, namely former Rockets Trojan horse Clint Capela banging at the front door of the Clippers' locker room so that the rest of his unit could sneak through the back entrance.
Hopefully, DeAndre will talk about Tunnelgate and offer more details some other time.
Related: "Doc came in with a swagger that was like 'Nah, f*ck that, this is about us.'" - DeAndre Jordan reflects on Doc Rivers' role in shaping Lob City Clippers'
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