There is little question after Saturday night’s 102-94 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers that the Lakers and head coach Mike Brown had a few things to think about moving forward.
However, there was one aspect of last night’s game that still isn’t sitting right with the Lakers coach. With 12.3 seconds left in the first quarter, Lakers rookie Darius Morris drove to the basket after drawing a foul on Chris Paul. Morris finished the play after the whistle, laying the ball into the basket.
After the play Morris took a shot to the midsection from Clippers’ forward Blake Griffin. The hit sent Morris to the floor, and sent Brown over the edge.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJs7pUfoOok&feature=player_embedded#
Brown earned his first technical foul as the head coach in L.A., and had to be restrained by assistant coaches John Kuester and Chuck Person. Now, with a night to think it over, Brown still isn’t pleased according to Brian Kamenetzky of ESPN Los Angeles.
“I’m just talking about the general safety of anybody that’s in the air after a play is called, and they get pushed — and it was a push, you could see it on the tape — and nothing was called? I wonder why.”
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Brown went on to say that he doesn’t believe Griffin was trying to hurt Morris or is necessarily a dirty player, but Griffin’s history may prove otherwise.
A recent thread in a community forum on Inside Hoops featured several other videos that featured Griffin making similar plays.
Here’s Griffin shoving Mario Chalmers of the Miami Heat:
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvVqOw7OhIo
And one more video of Griffin pushing Andre Miller:
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQrNYIBw3fw&feature=player_embedded
I’m certainly not going to state that Griffin is a dirty player, but this isn’t helping his cause.