This was an afternoon Trevor Ariza would probably like to forget.

The Rockets marque player went an abysmal 0-4 from the field in the first half and had as many turnovers and fouls as points (1).

Ariza’s frustration continued when he threw the ball against the red pads under net in third quarter as his team fell even further behind to the Raptors.

After battling through 26 minutes of his worst basketball of the season – which saw him go 0-9 from the field and score only one point- Ariza snapped.

Not a Ron Artest kind of snapped, but Ariza’s emotions clearly got the better of him.

When Toronto opened up a 68-49 advantage, Ariza threw an elbow directed at the back of DeMar DeRozan’s head after the rookie stole the ball.

Jack quickly stepped into the situation and let Ariza know his team wouldn’t stand for that.

“I actually didn’t see what happened,” Jack confessed after the game. “I was up running with DeMar (DeRozan) and when I turned around I saw the ref making the technical foul signal and I saw our whole bench standing up. I knew he must have done something. I’m going to have anyone’s back in that situation and stand up for them. No question.”

Even if that means he had to get into the face of one of his friends.

In an era where NBA players are buddy-buddy off the court, a lot of player have drawn criticism from some members of the media and fans for allowing that friendship to effect them on the court.

Not Jack.

Even though Ariza and Jack have a friendship and mutual respect for each other it won’t stop him from speaking his mind.

“Trevor (Ariza) and I have a really good relationship but on the court all of those relationships are put behind you,” Jack explained. “There’s no friendships or none of that stuff. I just went up to him and let him know what he did wasn’t cool and we weren’t going to back down and we weren’t going to tolerate it.”

DeRozan, meanwhile, was quick to brush off the incident following the game. The rookie stressed the fact he and Ariza have a friendship that dates back to when Ariza was in high school and during the summer the two spend time together. The two are so close that DeRozan spent last spring cheering for Ariza to win an NBA Championship while he was playing for Los Angeles.

After a post-game text from Ariza it appears DeRozan is ready to move on from the incident.

“It was in the heat of the moment and I think he got frustrated after I got a steal and he tried to foul me,” DeRozan told the media as he tried to dismiss the incident. “I really didn’t see what happened after the fact.”

While he didn’t see the play that sparked things DeRozan did see a teammate he respects and admire stand up for him.

Sure, it was just a bit of verbal sparring between Jack and Ariza, but it was enough to show the Raptors that their starting point guard wouldn’t stand for an opponent disrespecting one of his teammates.

“This team is like (a) family,” DeRozan explained to the media after the game. “Especially Jarrett. He’s like my older brother so it’s cool to see that.”

It’s this kind of unity fans and members of the media have been looking for since Paul Pierce drew a technical foul after taunting Chris Bosh a couple weeks ago. Then, in the following game Phoenix Suns’ forward Amar’e Stoudemire hit Bosh hard during a drive to the basket. On both incidents no one from Toronto stepped up to have words with the player who hacked the face of the franchise.

Today that changed as Jack made it clear that when he’s on the court he won’t tolerate a teammate being picked on or bullied. It’s not like Jack lost his cool in the heat of the moment – he just took a stand when he felt his team was wronged.

Hopefully this kind of leadership from Jack rubs off on the rest of the team and allows the team to continue to gel as a team.