Yes, we’re still in preseason. That doesn’t mean anyone wants to get dunked on. So when Trevor Booker saw Griffin going up for a classic Blake Griffin dunk, he did what every basketball player is taught to do: make him earn it at the line.
Maybe it was a little rough, though.
Griffin certainly thought so, as evidenced by the above clip. Booker got a flagrant-1 for the foul. After the game, he seemed to regret even escalating it as far as he did, though he did make it clear he was tired of being a target for hard fouls.
Here’s what Melissa Rohlin of the L.A. Times wrote:
Booker committed a hard foul on Griffin as he elevated for a dunk. Griffin responded by grabbing the back of Booker’s head, and further escalation appeared imminent before teammates and referees stepped in to restrain and separate the two.
Griffin acknowledged after the game that he considered taking his retaliation further.
“I was going to and then thought, it’s preseason, it’s not worth it,” Griffin said. “That’s nothing personal to waste it on.”
Booker was charged with a flagrant foul and a technical foul on the play. Griffin and Chris Paul also got technical fouls.
Griffin is often the recipient of hard fouls because of his aggressive style of play on offense and his dominance in the post.
“You don’t ever want him to do anything, honestly, but he gets hit with more cheap shots, I think, probably because I’m coaching him, than anyone in the league,” Clippers’ Coach Doc Rivers said.
Griffin indicated he was tired of the hard fouls. When asked if there’s going to come a time when he’s not going to use so much restraint, he didn’t hesitate.
“Yeah, probably, probably,” he said. “But I’m not going to just do it for no reason. If it’s not warranted, and I didn’t think that was.”
Reading between the lines, does anyone else think Andrew Bogut should be watching his back when the Warriors meet the Clippers this year?
Here’s the rest of the latest NBA news as we’re just days away from the start of the real NBA season:
SCOTT SAYS LAKERS AREN’T ABOUT TO EMBRACE THE THREE
Before getting to that, let’s read Tom Ziller’s criticism of the Lakers’ approach in their last couple preseason games, as part of his argument that the Lakers could be the NBA’s worst non-Sixers team:
Scott has decided that the Lakers will snub their collective noses at modern basketball thinking and stop taking so many three-pointers. Drew Garrison explained why this is a horrible decision. The proof is, to this point, in the pudding: the Lakers are 1-3 in the preseason with an average points margin of minus-21. They lost by 33 to the Jazz — the Jazz! — on Thursday, despite Kobe having a really solid game. This came after losing to the Warriors by 15 and by 41 in consecutive games.
Yes, yes: it’s the preseason and it doesn’t actually matter. But the last two games (again, losses by 41 and 33) have come as Scott’s ideal style ideal has been used, as John Schuhmann’s shot charts show.
Mid-range jumpers are the least efficient shot in basketball. Corner threes are among the most efficient. Over two games, the Lakers have taken 95 mid-range jumpers and eight threes … none of which were in the corners. That’s just incredible.
Now, here’s what Scott said, via Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com:
Through four exhibition games, they’re averaging about seven 3-point attempts and have made just six of 29.
Worse: the Lakers have shot 1-for-19 from long range in their last three games, including going 0-for-8 in their last two.
Even worse: the Lakers haven’t made a 3-point shot since the first quarter of their second preseason game – an 11½-quarter drought.
ESPN.com’s Tom Haberstroh also found that there are 24 players who have made more 3-pointers this preseason than the entire Lakers team.
Though first-year Lakers head coach Byron Scott admitted that injuries to perimeter players such as Jeremy Lin, Steve Nash, Ryan Kelly and Nick Young have hindered their 3-point efforts, Scott didn’t hide how he felt about the league’s steep rise in long-range attempts.
“You’ve got a lot of teams that just live and die by it,” Scott said after the team’s practice here Friday. “Teams, general managers, coaches, they kind of draft that way to try to space the floor as much as possible. But you have to have shooters like that; you also have to have guys that can penetrate and get to the basket, because that opens up the floor.”
But does Scott believe in that style?
“I don’t believe it wins championships,” he said. “(It) gets you to the playoffs.”
Seven of the last eight NBA champions led all playoff teams in 3-point attempts and makes.
LEBRON DIDN’T COME BACK TO CLEVELAND BECAUSE OF THE TEAM
This was kind of something we already knew, but it’s definitely nice to hear it straight from the King.
Joe Vardon of the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
“It’s funny man, it’s not the team, besides obviously the guys that was here already, but the team was a small thing of me coming back” to Cleveland this season.
Understanding the connection between how James played and what he said needs context.
The Cavaliers, and James in particular, have reached the point of introspection in the preseason. They’ve played five games – three in four nights – and none of them count. Two more practice games remain until they start playing for real Oct. 30.
It’s the point of the preseason where reporters, with deadlines for season preview stories fast approaching, ask the bigger picture questions.
James was asked about how different the Cavaliers’ roster is now than it was when he announced his returned to Cleveland on July 11, and if he had thought then that the Cavaliers were loaded for a possible run to the Finals this year.
He said he “did sacrifice the right now for the future” when he came to Cleveland, because the roster hadn’t turned over yet. But that’s not why he came back.
“It was more about these fans and the city and the people here, and the people that watched me grow from when I first picked up a basketball at age 8 until where I am now,” James said. “So, the team didn’t mean much. I felt like me coming, we could hopefully add some pieces, obviously it happened quicker than I thought.”
PAU GASOL EXCITED FOR FRESH START WITH BULLS
Michael Lee of the Washington Post:
Gasol had San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich offering him a chance to play with Tim Duncan and the defending champions, Miami Heat President Pat Riley trying to convince him to take his talents to South Beach, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook telling him he could be the missing piece in Oklahoma City, and heard another plea from his former coach Phil Jackson, former teammate Derek Fisher and Carmelo Anthony to join them in New York. The ultimate heart tug came when Kobe Bryant urged Gasol to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers.
“He wanted to pretty much retire together,” Gasol said of Bryant. “That was an attractive option. One part of me wanted to stick with him and try to turn it around. But deep inside of me, I felt it was time after everything that I’d been through that I wanted to put myself in a position where I was highly stimulated. Kind of change directions a little bit, fresh start and get going again.”
That led Gasol to the Chicago Bulls. Joakim Noah gave Gasol the brutally honest truth about the team’s promise and shortcomings during a meeting that included Bulls executives in Los Angeles. Derrick Rose, a reluctant recruiter, even reached out to place a call, something he failed to do with Anthony last summer or even LeBron James four years ago. The more Gasol thought about it, the more Chicago made sense.
“I thought the Bulls had a great opportunity, a great potential to achieve something special,” Gasol said. “Having a nice mix of young players that are extremely hungry that haven’t got to that level yet but are close. I wanted to be a part of that, and my gut also told me, ‘Hey, this is a place you want to be.’ ”
CELTICS LIKELY TO WAIVE WILL BYNUM
Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe:
Boston traded Joel Anthony’s expiring $3.8 million deal for Bynum’s $2.9 million deal. The $900,000 difference pushes the Celtics approximately $2.2 million below the luxury tax line, and the organization has no intention of exceeding that line with a rebuilding team.
There was speculation that the Celtics acquired Bynum to replace Pressey, who will earn $815,000 this season, but sources say Bynum was acquired to help the Celtics avoid the luxury tax, and they were also able to find a taker for Anthony, who had little role on the team.
With Anthony gone, the Celtics are expected to keep Vitor Faverani, who is out another two months following a second knee procedure, and make him the third center behind Kelly Olynyk and Tyler Zeller.
The Celtics still have 16 guaranteed contracts, including that of rookie Dwight Powell, and just 15 roster spots. So Ainge will have to waive a player with a guaranteed deal or make a trade to reduce before the season opener Oct. 29 against the Brooklyn Nets.
After Saturday’s meeting, that move is expected to be Bynum, who will garner interest on the free agent market once he is placed on waivers.
Blake got his panties in a snit.