World Peace elbowed James Harden in the head at the end of the regular season and was dealt a 7-game suspension for the act. He returned to action for the first time since the incident Saturday night for the Lakers’ Game 7 win against the Denver Nuggets.

World Peace never apologized to Harden in any way unless you count Twitter and still stands by saying it was an accident when it clearly wasn’t.

World Peace now has caused some more stir with his recent comments about Harden and the Thunder.

“I don’t shake hands with substitutes,” World Peace said. “I shake everybody’s hand before the game, but Oklahoma City, they don’t shake hands. Only some of them, but I don’t think they really shake hands before the game. Kendrick Perkins and now (Russell) Westbrook don’t shake hands either. (Russell) used to shake hands, but now he don’t shake hands anymore.”

World Peace thinks he’s making a jab at Harden because he comes off the bench. Like the Sixth Man of the Year winner isn’t talented enough to start in this league or something.

Harden said earlier this week on the Dan Patrick show that he won’t look to shake hands with World Peace before the game either or speak to him at all.

The stage is set for the Thunder and Lakers. There are many storylines and the return of World Peace against this team is at the top of the list.

One thing is for sure is that the Thunder are going to come out very motivated against this team not just because of World Peace. They’ve been on a mission all season and one of the hungriest young teams in the league.

They know that knocking out the Los Angeles Lakers is part of taking that next step to becoming a championship team.

By the end of the series I’m sure that the Lakers and their fans will wish that World Peace would have elbowed Harden just a little bit harder.

Dale Zanine-US PRESSWIRE

The Atlanta Hawks shocked a lot of people beating the Boston Celtics 83-74 on Sunday to win Game 1 of the series.

The Celtics were without Ray Allen for the game and got off to a very slow start while Atlanta looked fresh.

The Hawks were led by Josh Smith who scored 22 points to go with 18 rebounds and four assists and completely outplayed Kevin Garnett.

In the fourth quarter with frustrations high, Boston’s Rajon Rondo was ejected from the game after arguing a call and then bumping referee Marc Davis.

It is expected now that Rondo will be suspended for Game 2 and possible Game 3 because of the incident.

Rondo had 20 points and 11 assists in the game and surely the Celtics will have a much tougher time beating the Hawks in this series without him.

If the suspension is just one game and Rondo and Allen return for a Game 3 at home, the series shouldn’t be viewed as completely over but it will be tougher than most thought for the Celtics to advance to the second round.

Spruce Derden-US PRESSWIRE

The Los Angeles Clippers pulled off one of the most improbable comebacks in NBA history late Sunday night. The Clippers ended their Game 1 with the Memphis Grizzlies on a 28-3 run to stun a Memphis crowd and win 99-98.

Chris Paul had 14 points and 11 assists and scored the final two points of the game at the free throw line with 24 seconds left.

Nick Young made three consecutive three-pointers for the Clippers during the run and led the team with 19 points.

The Clippers came into the game with not a lot of playoff experience and it showed as the Grizzlies immediately jumped out to a big lead.

Memphis of course had the great run last year in the playoffs and were looking as good as any team thus far in the playoffs this year.

The Grizzlies may have had a little fool’s gold though with their percentage from beyond the arc making 11-of-16 threes before going cold in the final minutes of the game.

This series promised to be one of the best first round matchups and with the Clippers stealing Game 1 on the road it probably will live up to that.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City Thunder will play Game 2 tonight against the Dallas Mavericks. It will be the second game in a TNT double-header with the Miami Heat and New York Knicks playing first. Orland and Indiana will also tip Game 2 tonight on NBA TV.

The Thunder looked great in the final quarter against Dallas coming back to win thanks to Kevin Durant’s game-winner but they will have to play with the same intensity they showed in the fourth quarter for 48 minutes to ensure another victory.

Miami blew out New York badly in Game 1 but all the Knicks have to do is steal Game 2 and they’ve done their job of getting homecourt. After the Clippers-Grizzlies game, a complete flip-flop of fortunes in the Miami-New York series doesn’t seem as farfetched.

Indiana – like Memphis – blew what should have been an easy Game 1, home win to Orlando. The Magic scored the final 11 points of Game 1 to win.

The Pacers showed a sizable inside advantage with no Dwight Howard and Roy Hibbert blocking nine shots in the game but he also only scored eight points. The Pacers will need to find more reliable offense to get by the Magic tonight.

Metta World Peace has finally spoken (not counting Twitter) about the elbow he delivered to James Harden last Sunday, earning him a seven-game suspension.

World Peace still sticks by that it was unintentional and that he was way too emotional in the moment.

The video doesn’t lie though. He meant to land the elbow on Harden. I do believe though that it was not as maliciously intended as it appeared. He totally lost himself in the moment and we know he is a crazy person. I believe that somehow he actually could have not known exactly what he was doing at the moment.

It’s unfair to every other player in the NBA to make an excuse for this though no matter what was going on in World Peace’s head. What goes on in his head is crazy stuff and it makes him the kind of guy who could do something like this on accident. Something that could have been much more horrible.

If Harden is facing World Peace and the elbow caught him in the jaw or eye this is a much bigger deal. The blow could have been a lot worse and World Peace is lucky in some regard that it wasn’t worse.

World Peace’s suspension will likely mean that he will return in round two of the playoffs in Oklahoma City. He will receive more boo’s than anyone has this season and deservedly so.

World Peace will miss the final game of the regular season for the Lakers against the Kings and the first six playoff games. If the Lakers win their first round series in less than seven games then that means that World Peace’s return would likely be against Oklahoma City in the second round in the Chesapeake Arena.

The suspension number falls right in between what many were projecting. I guess that makes it feel right since 3-4 games would feel like nothing and 10 games is a lot.

I personally would not have minded to see World Peace suspended for the rest of the season but I can understand how that isn’t the case.

Harden is still being evaluated by the NBA and will not play tonight against the Kings.

It was a horrible scene and simply inexplicable. World Peace became Ron Artest again for that moment. He seemed to completely forget where he was and what he was doing. That can happen to crazy people which he most certainly is.

World Peace was immediately ejected and will face a suspension for sure. If it is something like 10 games then his return could be during a potential second round matchup between the Thunder and Lakers.

Harden is going to be evaluated by the NBA before he is cleared to return. The blow was extremely forceful and concussion-like symptoms seem likely.

Here are the Thunder players’ reactions to the play.

Russell Westbrook: “I didn’t really see what happened. I just saw James got hit in the head. I just saw the ending of it. That’s all I saw. I haven’t seen a replay, but I’m pretty sure I’ll see it. That’s going to be on TV.”

Kevin Durant: “I couldn’t really get a good look at it. I’m just happy my teammate’s all right. It was a bad play. Hopefully Ron didn’t do it intentionally or have any malicious intentions on that. But it is what it is. We got to move past that. (Harden) felt good. Obviously, we had to make sure he was all right going down the line. Our trainers and stuff do a great job and we believe in them 100 percent. I’m looking forward to James being back out there.”

Kendrick Perkins: “Actions were taken. The consequences were there. It was a Flagrant 2 and he got thrown out of the game. It happens. Sometimes it’s an intense game. Metta World Peace, he’s a good dude so I know he wouldn’t try to hurt nobody. It happens and we just hope to have James back for the next game.”

Thabo Sefolosha: “During the review I saw it. Stupid play. Stupid play. We don’t need that.”

Scott Brooks: “It was a bad play. There’s no way around it. It’s a dangerous play. It’s not a play that should be involved in basketball. And it’s unfortunate it happened. I know Ron, but unfortunately it did happen. You can’t do that. That’s unacceptable.”

Kobe Bryant: “I can’t speculate (how many games),” Bryant said. “I’m sure he’ll have some type of a suspension. And James, I hope he’s OK. I haven’t heard anything about how he’s doing, but he’s one of my favorite players in the league, one of my young boys, so I hope he’s doing all right.”

Here’s what Metta World Peace said via Twitter: “I just watched the replay again….. Oooo.. My celebration of the dunk really was too much… Didn’t even see James ….. Omg… Looks bad.”

Not sure how World Peace thinks we’re going to believe this was an innocent act.