Tuesday, April 17th, 2012 at 9:00 am  |  103 responses

Blake Griffin Is ‘Sick’ of Absorbing Hard Fouls, Cheap Shots


by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

Derrick Rose isn’t the only wildly athletic NBA star who’s grown “sick and tired” of opponents’ only resort when he goes hard to the hoop. Blake Griffin is also fed up.

Griffin admitted to reporters that he’s not happy with the hard fouls he endures on a nightly basis, but he’s also realistic enough to know that not much will change, no matter how much he complains.

From the OC Register:

“I’m definitely sick of taking hard hits,” Griffin said after the Clippers’ shootaround Monday. “…There’s a point, I can’t remember what game it was, in my mind where I thought this is kind of ridiculous. I’m sick of it, but it’s going to keep on happening.”

The most notable foul Griffin has taken this season happened at New Orleans, where Jason Smith shouldered Griffin to the ground on a fast break, earning an ejection and suspension. The beating Griffin’s taken around the rim has impacted him on the court. “It’s affected me this year a lot, especially with the referees,” he said. “I’m just getting frustrated and getting my self in trouble with officials.”

Griffin has been whistled for 11 technical fouls this season, one of which has been rescinded. If Griffin is called for three more technicals this season, he’ll be suspended for one game. “I won’t let it get to that point,” Griffin said. “You got fouled like that, and a lot of times, it doesn’t get called. That’s frustrating. But that’s on me. It’s not about the fouls. I can’t blame it on the fouls. I have to do a better job of controlling that.”

Blake Griffin goes on to speculate that were he a better shooter — the Clippers’ star forward is shooting a woeful 52% from the charity stripe this season — then defenders would think twice before fouling him. (Derrick Rose, by contrast, shoots 80.9% from the line and still takes a beating regularly, so Griffin’s theory is a tad questionable.)

Helpless defenders will continue to hammer away at high-flyers like Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin, and both can expect the physical play to increase once the Playoffs begin. This is simply a part of the game that both will have to learn to accept, and fight through.

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  • Cheema

    first Rose, now Griffin. smh

  • AsadSaleh3

    *Waiting for people to call him a cry baby and tell him to “Man up”*….

  • timbo slice

    blake gets babied hard tho…..

  • AsadSaleh3

    Blake will be alright though. Kenyon Martin will handle it on the court if it gets out of hand. He has no problem taking care of business when necessary.

  • JeffRay

    These guys would not have survived in the 80s NBA

  • Justin G.

    Griffin needs to man up and quit being such a cry baby. How’s that Asad? He also needs to quit flopping and then begging for the call when he doesn’t get that one either. A power forward getting bumped and hit a lot? Say it ain’t so!

  • http://www.nba.com Gman

    stop dunking on folks, you wont get fouled. VC learned that lol.

  • dan

    id like to see griffin and rose working out with ewing oakley mason laimbeer artest the davis brothers and rodman during the summer. i think if they survive the crying should be stopped then

  • Sam

    The Princesses are coming out in full force these last few days.
    It’s one thing for Derrick Rose to complain about getting hit, but his Flopness Blake Griffin? You only get what you have coming to you in this league.

  • tomtom

    Cosign dan

  • ALD

    how you gon try and dunk on somebody EVeRYTIME and say i’m tired of getting hit. That is stupid.. Me commenting on this is stupid too lol .smh

  • Hart

    And I’m sick of hearing this

  • http://staticseth.blogspot.com Seth

    Big men who can’t hit free throws will be hacked. It’s the way it is, Blake! Go cry to Dwight Howard.

  • bike

    Those wannabe tough guy stare downs are gonna keep getting him hit. You can’t complain about getting hit when you act like a d#ck after every two point play. And the flops don’t help.

  • Justin G.

    Not even that he tries to dunk on them but then always stares them down afterwards (never getting T’d up either). I’d give him the hard foul too

  • FnF

    In Blake/Rose’s defense: If you are going to play basketball, then play basketball. Defenders are making non-basketball plays in a basketball game. That is what those two have been complaining about. If defenders were establishing position or making an effort to challenge the shot, rather than wrap up a guys arms while he’s in the air, this wouldn’t be a problem. Oh well, those 2 have to continue to put the pressure on the refs. Make them make the call… in the game.

  • bt

    maybe if you played anything that resembled defence you could give out some hard fouls in return. But as defence doen’t end up on sportscentre (it only wins games) you won’t bother

  • AsadSaleh3

    @FnF Truth.

  • jesus

    blake’s mommy should get him “bill laimbeer’s combat basketball” for christmas.

  • http://kb24.com x-DrEw_MaiN-x

    NBA… Where Hard Fouls Happen

  • http://slamonline.com AllBall

    What I don’t like is the hypocrisy of it all. Rose complains about cheap shots and then Noah gets Crawford with a very cheap and dangerous shot the next night. Blake gets fouled a lot on basketball plays that are not called, more so than with repetetive cheap shots. He also plays physical as hell, and dishes out his share of contact.

  • bike

    I guess Rose and Griffin are the only guys that ever get hit hard. Two guys with more flash than substance complaining because other guys aren’t volunteering to be apart of their cute lil highligh reels. Gtfoh.

  • bike

    If Rose and Blake develop actual basketball skills and stop relying on their athleticism as the focal point of their games then hard fouls won’t be as much of a problem. Blake, get a real post up game. Rose, get a better and more reliable jumpshot.

  • lakernation

    First D’Rose now blake? Bounties?

  • http://www.slamonline.com spit hot fiyah

    work on your free throws and then appreciate the fouls

  • Jer Dawg

    Well, if these guys go hard at basket it’s gonna happen. Do defenders complain “oh, I’m sick of getting beat up by these big strong offensive players. They initiate all the contact and they smack my face with their off arm.” If they just develop a better floater or jump hook, mid range jumpers they will save themselves some contact.
    I admire both players a lot, but i really don’t want to hear them complain through the media. When Iverson was getting to the line 10 times per game in his prime years I didn’t hear him moan about it through the media. He must have been hit the most. Shaq, too.

  • http://www.borntocompete.com Money$hot

    Aaahh jesus @ 9:45am I remember that Bill Laimbeer video game! It sucked!

  • dan

    they should also spend less time on athletic training and put more effort into fundamentals. with a decent fadeway or jumper off the dribble they wouldnt get banged up that often. im also not able to remember drexler, jordan, kemp or other good players complaining about this even though back then everything was way more physical. in the days of handchecking and eastern conference temas not giving up ANY easy layups everybody was afraid to be labeled soft so nobody complained even though the whacking and hacking was much harder. pull your selves together or spend the summer in a boxing gym. helped me to get tougher too back then

  • http://www.borntocompete.com Money$hot

    Blake Griffin, what it all come down too, nobody wants to be embarressed. And, if you going to the whole and embarressing people, you are going to start getting fouled hard. Lol because nobody wants to gets embarrased on tv!

  • FnF

    What is with you people saying that you never heard past stars complain to the media. Have you noticed how big the media has become in the past 20 years? The NBA has its own channel, website, along with countless blogs covering everything NBA. Then you have websites streaming live interviews even before they happen. With the click of a button you can read transcripts of player interviews with local papers. You didn’t hear about the complaining because EVERYTHING a player said back then wasn’t delivered instantly to the house phone with the 20 foot cord in your mom’s kitchen.

  • salty

    FnF: In any case it’s obnoxious. Why is he talking to the media about this? What an embarrassment.

  • Yesse

    Coming from a guy who makes cheap shots and hard fouls himself.

  • Mike From Spain

    Blake Griffin regularly gets no-calls on that elbow with the off arm to create space for the dunk. So it kind of evens out…

  • Anon

    He should man up. You can’t expect to mug people when you come down from a dunk and expect for there not to be consequences.

  • IAMORANGE4EVER

    Of all people to complain…smh

  • bike

    He needs to add some more dimension to his game anyway. Sooner or later, he’s going to get injured playing the way he does no calls aside. It’s called adjusting Blake.

  • carp

    I’m starting to dislike Blake Griffin with all this flopping and whining, and then going and staring someone down like he does anything. Just play basketball dude…

  • carp

    oops *when, not like

  • Mike Mihalow

    When you dunk hard on people, your gonna get fouled hard. Play softer if it bothers you so much, Blake.

  • Top$helf

    Get a jump shot and stop crying

  • http://dennysisforwinners.blogspot.com DennysFishTacos

    21st Century NBA… SMH

  • http://dennysisforwinners.blogspot.com DennysFishTacos

    I’ve never heard Duncan or KG complain about these things, and nobody took more of a beating in the past 20 years than Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson. Guess this goes to show that Blake and Derek Rose aren’t ready for the big leagues.

  • Mp7three

    So by reading some of the responces I can see that others agree that if Blake tries to dunk on people (sometimes by using his off arm to push off them) and then taunts them then players are gonna knock him down first. And Blake is gonna cry about cheap shots when he’s pushing players in midair in the back (dangerous) or elbowing people in the head/neck while boxing out. What dude should be doing besides thanking CP3 for making the Clips a playoff team (or thank Stern) is just shut up and just stay looking like an orange Frankenstein whose eyes are too close together.

  • Ash

    Oh please he’s a big guy..this league is becoming soft

  • tknissen

    Baby.. Stop whining and start defending

  • IAMORANGE4EVER

    In other news, Gordon Hawyard is “sick” of absorbing wet willies.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    Blake griffin needs to man up, he should be proud and the embrace the cheap shots and dunk on them next time. man I miss the eighties, these players are soft nowadays. whats another lame cliche?

  • boss

    and people where saying these humble stars will carry the league there so soft its the nba its not hugs and kisses playoffs will be even worse and hes complaning now smh

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    People are stupid, some of these very same people questioning Blakes and Rose toughness are probably the people who thought Bynum was a “thug” and should of been banned from the league after what he did to Barea in last years playoffs. SMH, hypocrites?

  • http://www.fullc0urtpress.com KHOLIDAY

    They need to put D-Rose and Blake in those E-Trade commercials with the other talking babies!

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