LA Times – Clippers All-Star forward Blake Griffin injured his right hand throwing a punch during an altercation with a member of the team’s traveling party over the weekend and will be sidelined a few more weeks. Clippers Coach Doc Rivers would not divulge whether there would be any discipline involved as a result of the incident but said he would more fully address the situation before his team plays the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The equipment staff member involved in the altercation has not been fired, a team spokesman said.
Before the season if you had to bet on which All Star caliber big man in California was out with a broken hand for 4-6 weeks after punching a member of the equipment staff in the face how many people would put money on Blake Griffin? Boogie Cousins would’ve been -50000, Mo Speights and Andrew Bogut would’ve been up there, even DeAndre Jordan aiming for Chris Paul’s face and missing accidentally knocking a ball boy into the upper deck would’ve been at least -250. Blake Griffin?
The Clippers are so honorable for sticking to their roots as the biggest circus in the NBA. The Sacramento Kings brought in Rajon Rondo and George Karl in the past 12 months and have somehow managed to gain more organizational stability than the Clippers. The Cavaliers fired a coach with a better career winning percentage than Red Auerbach in order to promote a slightly more competent Doc Rivers and they’re currently more stable than the Clippers.
I’m not sure how it’s possible that an organization can rid itself of Donald Sterling and not improve its image and stability tenfold. That’s nearly impossible. What is it with the Clippers? They sign Josh Smith after he murdered them in the playoffs only to never play him and ultimately trade him back to the Rockets?
What pissed off Blake so much? Blake, from all accounts, is one of the most laid back players in the NBA. Sure, he may snatch your phone and attack you in a club if you try and snipe a pic of him. But how did a guy who was tweeting out pictures of chairs barricading doors to keep Mark Cuban out of DeAndre Jordan’s house become so angry in such a short period of time?
LOOK AT THOSE THINGS! LOOK AT BLAKE! HE’S IRATE!
Listen, there are few things that can change the direction of a franchise for better or worse like new uniforms. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays were forever the laughing stock of Major League Baseball. Perennial bottom dwellers with no hope. All of a sudden they change their name to Rays, switch up the uniforms, bing, bang, boom they’re immediately in the playoffs and contending for the World Series. The Cleveland Browns move out of Cleveland and become the Baltimore Ravens, boom Super Bowl victory with Trent Dilfer playing quarterback. That NEVER would’ve happened in Cleveland.
I know Blake had a hand in designing those uniforms, but he’s one of the funny guys in the League. A prankster, if you will. No chance he designed these and thought they’d ever make the final cut. I know a joke when I see one and those uniforms are a flat out JOKE.
I honestly wasn’t sure the Clippers would make the playoffs this year off the weakness of these uniforms alone. And now with Blake punching the towel boy square in the face to the point where he broke his own hand they really might not. Yes I realize he’s been out since Christmas and the Clippers have beaten a bunch of sub-.500 teams without him, but you can’t have your best player breaking his hand on a trainer’s face in the middle of the season and then turn around and win the title later that same calendar year. That’s not how the Golden State Warriors’ NBA works.
Now we (I) can only hope Doc Rivers pulls the ultimate panic move and trades Blake. It probably wont happen, but this isn’t exactly the time to be giving the Clippers credit for intelligent organizational decisions while the face of their franchise is getting his metacarpals realigned in the emergency room.
Mick's Tape 