escalation

Bulla elbowed Phillip, who was holding him in the post area. Two times down the court later, Phillip punched Bulla square in the left cheek. Then Bulla hit Phillip on the head with a five-foot, inch-thick tree limb that happened to be lying courtside, breaking it into two jagged pieces. Phillip scooped up the smaller of the two and, as a matter of fact, the sharper of the two, and raced after Bulla to stab him. But the white man’s paralyzed, slack-jawed stare must have been the most laughable image of the entire ordeal.