Clippers troll Grizzlies with #didntloseby50 hashtag after loss to Warriors
The Los Angeles Clippers’ 112-108 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night left plenty of Clipper lovers feeling kind of blue. In an effort to make fans feel a bit better about the Clips’ first defeat of the season, the social media staffer behind the team’s official Twitter account offered a jauntily hashtagged final-score update:
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That hashtag — #didntloseby50 — referred to the 119-69 beating that the defending champs laid on the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday. As you’ll surely remember, there’s not a whole heck of a lot of love lost between the Clips and Grizz. They met in consecutive first-round playoff series, with L.A. taking the 2012 matchup (during which Grizzlies fans displeased by the Clippers’ penchant for flopping actually booed Chris Paul and Blake Griffin after they’d been injured) and Memphis advancing in 2013; Tony Allen has been suspended for kicking Paul in the face; Griffin and Zach Randolph have tangled enough to have a multi-minute highlight reel of their in-game fights.
Clippers-Warriors is the heated rivalry du jour, but there’s long-running, deep-seated animus in Clippers-Grizzlies, and hey, if you’re trying to salve your wound after a loss, why not throw some salt in someone else’s, right? Well, as you might suspect, Grizzlies fans and supporters didn’t take too kindly to the Clippers firing shots in their direction:
The folks behind the Grizzlies’ Twitter account, however, took a kinder path:
The Grizzlies themselves, however, didn’t much appreciate the hashtag abuse, according to Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal:
Courtney Lee: “It’s childish. We took our L and we kept it moving, right? We lost by 50. We didn’t cry over it, and went on to the next one. Apparently, they’re holding on to it. That’s what they got to do to overshadow their loss. Last time I heard, a loss is a loss. But that’s what they do over there.”
Tony Allen: “You ever seen the movie ‘White Men Can’t Jump’? It’s like those brothers would rather look good in a loss than look bad in a win. Whoever is in charge of their Twitter should be fired. I’ve never seen anybody broadcast losing. Who’s proud of losing — whether it’s by one, two three or 50? Enough said.”
Zach Randolph: “I take it with a grain of salt. I ain’t with all that talking and Instagraming and tweeting and bluffing. You got to prove it on the court.”
Coach Dave Joerger: “I don’t do Twitter.”
Evidently, some Clipper higher-up didn’t think the tweet was the best method of representing the club’s brand. Not only has it since been deleted, but while the wishes of “The Grindfather” weren’t carried out, the person responsible for it seems to have gotten a wag of the finger:
Could’ve been worse, hashtag cowboy. You could’ve been the next Chad Shanks.
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Now that the tweet beef’s been tabled, we look forward to seeing what these two old rivals have in store for one another when the Grizzlies travel to Staples Center to renew unpleasantries with the Clips on Monday. I know Z-Bo “ain’t with all that talking and Instagraming and tweeting and bluffing,” but I’m really hoping he says something like “Hashtag hands, baby” after the first time he muscles through a couple of Clips on the way to a no-lift layup.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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