Portis pleads his innocence after flagrant 2 on KCP; LeBron disagrees

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was fortunate to avoid a serious injury after taking a headshot from New York Knicks big man Bobby Portis.

Portis struck Caldwell-Pope while the latter was attempting a transition layup during the second quarter of Tuesday's matchup. The incident prompted LeBron James and Rajon Rondo to get into the 6-foot-10 power forward's face.

The 24-year-old was assessed a flagrant-2 foul and ejected from the contest. After the game, Portis apologized and denied any intent to injure.

"I went for the ball," Portis told reporters, including ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "My intent was never to hurt anybody or anything like that. Just trying to make a play on the ball. Missed the ball and hit him in the head. My apologies to Caldwell-Pope."

James disagreed with Portis' assessment of the incident, stating it "wasn't a basketball play."

"It was (dirty)," James said. "There was no play on the ball. I saw the windup happen before the actual impact. I saw the way he was chasing KCP down.

"And then the windup. I saw that play happening before it actually happened. So, I just voiced my words to what happened, and then the refs came in between us."

Caldwell-Pope remained down on the floor for several moments. He underwent a concussion evaluation and was later cleared to return, finishing with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

The former first-round pick is averaging 9.3 points and shooting a career-high 43.3% from beyond the arc across 37 appearances this season.