NBA Los Angeles ClippersUtah Jazz

Blake Griffin Didn’t Receive A Cheap Shot From Trevor Booker

Fresh Videos

By

not a cheap shot

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

I always say that I was born during the wrong era of basketball, and I think there has never been a moment when I have felt more vindicated in saying that than today.

If you watched the preseason game between the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers, then you saw the “cheap shot” against Blake Griffin by Trevor Booker.

Maybe you felt a little bit of rage build up inside of you, the embers of passion beginning to flare up. Griffin has become outspoken about his unwillingness to take the cheap shots anymore. Doc Rivers, the coach of the Clippers, has said that there is not a player that takes more cheap shots than Griffin, following the conflict against the Jazz.

But I don’t think that it was a cheap shot.

Just allow me to prove my point. Griffin received a pass from Chris Douglas-Roberts on a fast break down the court. He catches the pass, and then goes up for one of his routine flushes that he gets every game. Then Booker meets him at the rim and, if you look at the video slowly as I did, proceeds to try and swipe at the ball. This is, of course, happening in mid-air and at game speed, so the situation looks a lot worse than it was. But Booker puts his hand up and tries to make a play at the ball and catches Griffin, who adjusted his position to not get blocked.

The end result ended up being a foul, obviously. There is even a glimpse of Booker trying to catch Griffin just in case he fell. If you look, Booker puts out his hand to try to grab at Griffin, and has his hands stretched out wide before Griffin comes at him and pushes him. Of course Booker gets upset after that — any person would.

My point is that Griffin is absolutely acting out of touch with the reality of the situation. It is similar to whenever LeBron James, who was a subject to my view on a nightly basis, would react to physical play when he had the ball. These are guys who predominantly use their strength whenever they are making a play on a defender. They use their size and athleticism whenever they can. James and Griffin cleared the 240 or 250 mark last season, but would be upset when a defender uses their weight and size to try and bully them. Notice the blatant hypocrisy here. James and Griffin can bully, but nobody else is allowed to be physical.

The play that caused Griffin to react the way that he did was not a dirty play, it was not a cheap play. It was simply a play on the ball that got physical because they were in the air. It seemed a lot worse than it was, and Griffin’s responses, both physically and verbally, were uncalled for.

All of this makes me think that if this is the way Griffin is going to react, during a preseason game, how will he react when it is down the wire in a regular season game, or a playoff game? Will he lose his cool? Physicality is what he will and should receive if he is doling out punishment to his defenders. His athleticism is larger than life, and any coach who is coaching against the Clippers will tell their defenders to be as physical as they can without being cheap.

Maybe Griffin will benefit from some mindfulness techniques like they are doing in New York.

Christopher Cruz is a Miami Heat writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @_chris_cruz, or add him to your network on Google.

Share Tweet
Trending Now on