Clippers guard Bones Hyland splits the defense of Suns guard Damion Lee, left, and forward Josh Okogie for a layup on Sunday in Phoenix. (Rick Scuteri / Associated Press)
During a heated moment in Sunday’s regular-season finale, the Clippers went at one another.
They say they’ve moved on, focused only on battling the fourth-seeded Phoenix Suns in a first-round playoff series.
Backup guard Bones Hyland and reserve center Mason Plumlee began a heated exchange during the break between the third and fourth quarters of Sunday’s eventual win in Phoenix, at one point inches from one another’s face, before Hyland shoved Plumlee away.
After the game, which secured the Clippers the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference playoffs, Plumlee said it had resulted from miscommunication defensively. On one play late in the third quarter, both players were stuck on a screen, allowing a wide-open three-point attempt from the corner.
Plumlee said Sunday that the moment was already behind the two, who quickly took the court together to start the fourth quarter, and coach Tyronn Lue also dismissed it with a laugh.
“If it ain’t right, do something to fix it and after that little skirmish we took off and played a lot better so maybe we should do that more often,” Lue said Sunday. “They worked it out, it’s OK. Everything’s good.”
Hyland, who wasn’t seen in the locker room Sunday in Phoenix, also said the intensity of the moment had been “quashed.”
“It’s just competitive nature, it’s heat of the moment, we want to win the game so bad; it was a miscommunication thing,” Hyland said. “It happens. You argue, you fuss and fight your teammates, be seeing each other every day. It happens, bro; it ain’t nothing big. Me and him talked on the plane. It’s nothing. It’s quashed. People create their own narratives of what’s going on, but me and Mason know what’s going on, the team knows what’s going on.
“We deaded it literally in Phoenix. It’s nothing to worry about. We’re focused on Phoenix right now and trying to win the series.”
That focus turned to the Suns’ offense during Tuesday’s practice. Beating the Suns, who are…
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