Deron Williams, A.J. Price Have On-Court Beef, Forget They're Playing Preseason Basketball

The Washington Wizards dropped their preseason game against the Brooklyn Nets Monday in a 98-88 loss at Barclays Center. We're all friends here, so let's be honest with each other: I know most of you probably don't care. Yet, the same friendly sentiment isn't shared between Deron Williams and A.J. Price, so here we are.

In the waning moments of Monday's contest, Price hacked Williams as the latter attempted a layup. The two had to be separated by their respective teammates 

Apparently, the bad blood had been boiling over throughout the game as Williams and Price waged a war of words:

Williams said Price, who was raised and played his high school basketball on Long Island, kept saying, 'I'm home. I'm home.'"

"I hate when people just start talking for no reason," Williams said. "That's pretty much what he did.

"Maybe he had some boys in the crowd he wanted to impress while he can with the little minutes he's going to get this year.

"'It's my home now.' I told him that."

"Miscommunication," said Price. "In the heat of the moment, guys say things all the time and one thing led to another, but all in all, it's part of the game."

Basketball is back where it belongs in Brooklyn and trash talk is as much of the part of the game as anything else. It's like Nets part-owner Jay-Z said that one time: "Brooklyn, we go hard." I don't think I've ever sounded more white in my life.

For those wondering, these two teams don't meet in the regular season until Jan. 4, 2013, so I'm sure the beef will be squashed by then. 

Though, now that I think about it, it would have been funnier and much more topical if Williams taunted Price by asking where he could get a good deal on a laptop.  


Follow Adam on Twitter @AdamVingan and e-mail your story ideas to adamvingan (at) gmail.com.

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