Boozer on skirmish with Hibbert: 'We all know he's not a tough guy'

Carlos Boozer may have been lucky to walk away from a fourth-quarter skirmish on Sunday with only a Flagrant 1.

For a moment, it looked like things could get a lot hairier for Boozer, who caused a pull-apart scene between the Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers after hammering Roy Hibbert with a hard shove in the paint. Hibbert understandably took offense, and the two exchanged words for a good deal of time. In a minor miracle, cooler heads prevailed.

The shove looked pretty unnecessary, stemming from the two getting tangled up fighting for position. The inky-bearded king of the And-1 yell defended his actions, suggesting the Pacers center was a little liberal with the theatrics in response.

"I was trying to stop him from cutting and I pushed him a little bit," Boozer said. "He flopped a lot. Then he got up acting like he was a tough guy. We all know he's not a tough guy."

Unfortunately, these teams don't meet again this season, so the Boozer-Hibbert rivalry will have to wait until 2015-16 to pick up again.

We now turn to Kobe Bryant - who later said it's a shame the league's gotten to a place where that shove is a flagrant foul - for his reaction:

Lakers head coach Byron Scott was also quite perplexed with the call, lamenting the league's lack of toughness relative to even college basketball:

I asked all three referees to explain to me what a flagrant foul is from now on because I have no clue I really don’t. They told me it was unnecessary as far as what he did. I said it’s still a push. But college ball is more aggressive than we are and more physical than the NBA is right now.

Old-school guys like Scott and Bryant saying today's game is too soft? No way.