New Lakers Assistants Scott Brooks and Nate McMillan Once Scuffled During Playing Days

The Los Angeles Lakers are hiring Scott Brooks and Nate McMillan to serve as J.J. Redick's top two assistants. Redick, a rookie coach who poked fun at his own inexperience at his introductory press conference, will have two top assistant coaches with actual head coaching experience, and lots of it. Brooks and McMillan combined to win 1,189 games between them. Brooks and McMillan also know each other from their playing days. The two initiated a bench-clearing brawl in the 1993 NBA playoffs when Brooks' Houston Rockets faced off against McMillan's Seattle Supersonics. After receiving three elbows to the face and a stiff arm, Brooks fought back against McMillan. Then other players got involved. A brawl ensued after Otis Thorpe of the Rockets went after Seattle's Shawn Kemp. Thorpe then went after Seattle coach George Karl as Kemp approached Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich, who did his fair share of fighting as a player. McMillan started his coaching career in Seattle in 2000 and went on to coach the Portland Tra