After a whistle near the end of the testy Lakers/Clippers game Wednesday, Chris Paul tried to slap the ball out of Pau Gasol’s hands for no reason, then proceeded to trash-talk with the LA center all the way up the court. After Kobe Bryant intervened, you can see Chris Paul tell Kobe (:19), “he’s soft” and then say it again to Gasol. Of all the responses Gasol could have had, he chose to … rub Chris Paul’s head? Perhaps that’s his dismissive way of saying, “nice try, little guy.” I commend Gasol (23 points, 10 rebounds) for keeping his cool. Kobe wound up jawing with CP3 instead.

Here’s a post-game interview (:30) where Gasol just calls the incident “trash talk.”

The Lakers won, 96-91. It was CP3′s first game back from injury and he only played 26 minutes and took eight shots (Mo Williams jacked 16). Paul had 12 assists and no turnovers.