It's his best friend, they're in his SUV, this is not some random stranger, Davis is an idiot, and "holier than thou" sure beats "Apologetic fan".
The fact that he's an NBA player shouldn't take away from the fact that he assaulted a completely intoxicated person because he said some stupid s***, and there are a million other ways to handle that situation.
If he was just "Defending his girlfriend" why'd he come out and apologize like he did something wrong? I know why: Because he did something wrong.