HOUSTON -- Kermit Washington and Rudy Tomjanovich, linked for almost 25 years by one of the worst moments on an NBA court, greeted each other like old friends Thursday in Oakland, Calif.

Washington recommended to Tomjanovich a player he found while consulting last season in China. After giving Sonny Watson a long tryout, Tomjanovich invited Watson to join the Rockets' training camp in October.

It was Dec. 9, 1977, that Washington threw a right into Tomjanovich's face in a game at the Forum in Los Angeles. Months of surgeries followed for Tomjanovich. Tomjanovich became known as "the player punched'' and Washington as "the player who threw the punch.''

Tomjanovich believes it is time for the label on Washington to be lifted, the Houston Chronicle reported from Oakland in its Friday editions.

"If I just say it and don't live it, saying it, forgiving, is worthless,'' Tomjanovich said. "This is about me living a good life.''

If the label on Washington disappears, "that would be great. I'm all for that,'' Tomjanovich said.

Washington said he never will escape his image. He said, however, that some of the stigma could be removed by Thursday's meeting and a book to be published in November about the incident.