Blake Griffin led the way for the Los Angeles Clippers through the first three quarters against the Golden State Warriors. Yet, the Clippers power forward didn’t last long in the fourth quarter after receiving two questionable technical fouls.
The first time Griffin got the technical is when Draymond Green threw an elbow after the third quarter ended resulting in the ejection for the Warriors forward and the second came just minutes later after getting tangled up with center Andrew Bogut. In both instances referee Bill Kennedy used replay to make the call. In 32 minutes he finished the contest with 20 points, 14 rebounds and five assists.
After the game he said “If you look at it, I didn’t do anything and I got thrown out of the game.” His assertion is correct as he did nothing to receive even on technical, yet his second assertion is one that doesn’t hold water when he says “It all boils down to they fell for it. To me, that’s cowardly. That’s cowardly basketball.”
It’s interesting that Griffin uses the term “cowardly” when he is the one that consistently flops. For example last season against the Warriors Festus Ezeli got called for a flagrant foul resulting in Griffin using his momentum and he fell to the floor while hitting his head. Instead of getting up right away he milked the supposed injury so the referees would make a call. One of the worst thing a professional athlete can do is fake a head injury and that is exactly what he did.
Against the Oklahoma City Thunder he hit himself in the head with his own forearm automatically looks for a foul call, DeMarcus Cousins got called for a foul for reaching in without even making contact with Griffin as he made a show that he got hit in the eye and Jason Maxiell when chasing loose ball out-of-bounds gets called for a foul again without making contact on the Clippers power forward his momentum is what carried him into the crowd. There are numerous other examples as well.
Illustrating that the only coward is Griffin, not the referees nor the Warriors. It also sets an example for teams to get a rise out of him, which means more technicals and ejections are in the future.