Blake Griffin ejected for 2nd technical foul in 1st half of Clippers-Suns
The Los Angeles Clippers have developed a reputation as the NBA’s biggest complainers, a real accomplishment in a league where players as different as Tim Duncan and Russell Westbrook gesture towards referees after most every call against them. And no Clipper gets criticized for those actions more than All-Star forward Blake Griffin, whose protestations often seem a little extreme. No matter if you think that habit makes Griffin a bad guy, it’s the kind of thing that can get a little annoying.
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Sometimes it also gets Griffin and his team into trouble, which is what happened in Thursday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena. Already called for one technical foul for a minor incident with Suns forward Mirza Teletovic, Griffin yelled in the general vicinity of referees after what he thought was a bad non-call on a bucket around the basket at the 2:36 mark of the second quarter. Referee Monty McCutchen whistled Griffin for his second tech, triggering an automatic ejection.
Take a look at the play here:
And here’s a look at Griffin’s first technical with 7:01 remaining in the second quarter (in the first part of this GIF):
The Clippers suffered in his absence, eventually losing 118-104 on a night when Chris Paul (strained groin) and J.J. Redick (back spasms) had been ruled out prior to the game. Perhaps not coincidentally, Suns guards Brandon Knight (37 points on 14-of-22 FG and 6-of-10 3FG) and Eric Bledsoe (26 points on 9-of-13 FG, 10 rebounds, nine assists, and eight turnovers) turned in dominant performances.
In fairness to Griffin, he appears to have been screwed. His second technical is the kind of moment that often earns that call, so McCutchen’s decision makes some sense in isolation. At the same time, it’s also a call that doesn’t get made with regularity. For that matter, Griffin’s first tech was severe given his relatively minor actions. These two incidents don’t seem to add up to an ejection, which perhaps says more about the justness of the two-tech rule than anything else.
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On the other hand, Griffin knew he already had one technical foul and still put himself in a position where the referee could make a decision to kick him out of the game. This criticism is a form of victim-blaming, to be sure, but the sad fact is that achieving team goals in the NBA often requires players to submit to various forms of injustice and ethical impurity.
The Clippers also very much needed Griffin on the court in this game with both starting guards unavailable and the team on the second night of a back-to-back after Wednesday’s draining matchup with the Dallas Mavericks and their DeAndre Jordan-hating fans. And that loss came after an uninspiring win over the Memphis Grizzlies that itself followed two straight losses to the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets.
This wasn’t Griffin’s best moment. Although he really shouldn’t been ejected in the first place.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
