Walton had no problem with IT-Randle shouting match: 'I love it'

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton was happy to see some emotion from his undermanned squad on the road against the defending NBA champions Wednesday, even if it appeared that two of his key players were on the verge of coming to blows.

During a third-quarter timeout at Oracle Arena, Lakers teammates Julius Randle and Isaiah Thomas - who was starting for Los Angeles for the first time - got into a war of words on the sidelines. Brook Lopez stepped between the two, while rookie Lonzo Ball removed Randle from the situation.

"I didn't see what it was about; I like it though," Luke Walton said following a 117-106 loss to the Golden State Warriors, according to ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk. "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 (on defense) 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."

While not going into details about what was said, Randle explained afterward that the argument wasn't a sign of some deep-rooted issue, as it was merely their respective competitive spirits being on display.

"Ah, man. It was great, honestly," said the 23-year-old forward. "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."

Thomas concurred with Randle's sentiment, adding he was just trying to be a leader, and he'll never shy away from speaking up if the situation calls for it.

Randle finished with a team-high 22 points and 10 rebounds, missing just two of his 10 shots in 34 minutes. Thomas added 20 points and seven assists of his own as Los Angeles fell to 31-37 on the season.