Metta World Peace Decks James Harden With Elbow [VIDEO]

Metta World Peace absolutely clobbers James Harden with a vicious elbow.

Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace was celebrating a nice fast-break dunk just before halftime on Sunday against the Oklahoma City Thunder.  World Peace pounded his chest (which was fine), but then took his celebration way too far by elbowing James Harden.  The elbow was a ridiculously-dirty cheap shot.  World Peace was ejected from the game in the 2nd quarter.  Go ahead and insert your "World Peace" joke here.  Here's my best attempt; maybe he should change his name to Metta Gang Initiation.

Anyway, Thunder forward Kevin Durant said it best.  Durant was interviewed at halftime and said that the elbow by World Peace wasn't a basketball play and that there was no place in the game for something like that.  Amen!  I'm all for physical play and emotion, but nailing an opponent with a vicious elbow is absurd.

World Peace was making a lot of progress the last few years by not doing stupid things like this on the court.  However, every now and then he shows us that he's still capable of going coo-coo.  James Harden did not return to the game in the second half.  The Lakers came all the way back from an 18-point deficit to beat the Thunder 114-106 in double overtime.

Brian Noe is the Program Director at 104.5 The Team, ESPN Radio in Albany, NY.  Brian also hosts “The Noe Show” weekdays from 1-3 pm ET on WTMM.