World Peace ejected from Lakers' overtime win for elbow to Harden's head

Metta World Peace was ejected with 1:37 left in the first half of Sunday’s Lakers-Thunder game for flooring James Harden with a violent left elbow to the head. Harden, once he got up, was taken to the locker room to be examined.

After a fast-break dunk that cut the Thunder’s lead to 48-47, World Peace exulted, brushed up against the Oklahoma City guard and threw the elbow. To no avail, he tried to explain to the officials that he was just celebrating his dunk.

Harden had 14 points in 13 minutes before the incident. World Peace left the game with 12 points, five rebounds and three steals.

"I got real emotional and excited, and it was unfortunate that James had to get hit with the unintentional elbow," said World Peace in a statement after the game. "I hope he's OK. Oklahoma, they're playing for a championship this year. I apologize to the Thunder and James Harden. It was just unfortunate."

Harden was on the Thunder bench when the second half started but went back to the locker room shortly thereafter. ABC's Lisa Salters reported that Harden "cleared the baseline concussion tests" and had been cleared to play, but that he acknowledged he had a "little bit" of a headache. Play-by-play announcer Mike Breen said later that Harden was experiencing concussion-like symptoms. Harden never returned to the game.

The Lakers went on to win the game, 114-106, in double overtime thanks to late scoring from Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. Bryant had 26 points, eight assists and six rebounds to go with a number of clutch baskets in the fourth quarter and both overtimes. Gasol continued his steady play, quietly putting up 20 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists.

"It's not so much that we beat Oklahoma, but how we did it," said Bryant, who shook off his own woeful shooting game with two key 3-pointers late in regulation. "In the playoffs, particularly if you don't have home-court advantage, you're going to have games like this. We have to have the poise and the confidence to just keep chipping away."

The Thunder were led by 35 points on 11-for-34 shooting and eight rebounds from Kevin Durant. Russell Westbrook also had a cold night shooting, as he added 14 points on only 3-for-22 shooting to pair with 10 assists. Oklahoma City allowed the Lakers to come back to force overtime despite leading by 11 points with only four minutes remaining in regulation.

Oklahoma City is now 6-6 in its last 12 games, with all of its losses coming against teams firmly set in the playoffs. The Thunder lost to the Clippers twice, and dropped three in a row in games against the Grizzlies, Heat and Pacers before taking another loss against the Lakers.