Blake Griffin: Is DeMarcus Cousins Correct in Calling Griffin an 'Actor?'
Blake Griffin is gaining a name around the league, and it's not for his rim-rocking dunks.
It's for his flops that even Vlade Divac would have to question.
You don't hear too much about Blake Griffin the villain. He is too busy leaping Pau Gasols in a single bound for anyone to notice that he may have some tenuous tactics.
I know—how could I?
The latest from the land of NBA bad guys is DeMarcus Cousins calling out Griffin for flopping, per Sports Illustrated's Sam Amick. Have we entered the WWE?
Dan Devine of Yahoo! Sports draws our attention to Thursday night's game, wherein the Clippers beat the Kings, 93-85.
In that game, Griffin was all over Cousins, who only played 18 minutes because of foul trouble. Shame on Cousins for failing to play poised basketball, right? Not according to him.
Here is his postgame interview where he calls Griffin an "actor" and states that he is perfect for the big lights of Hollywood:
""I guess the wind from my hand hit him in the eye," he said sarcastically. "I guess he got fouled by the wind. I'm not sure."
"
This is a direct reference to a play that took place with a little more than a minute to go in the game.
Griffin had the ball at the top of the key when Cousins swiped at the ball. I am sure you would like to see the play that drew the ire of a big man who can get a little foul-crazy in other games.
Well, here it is:
As you can see, the TV crew does us no favors by capturing the moment from the other side of Griffin's face. Therefore, there is no way to definitively know if Cousins hit the eye of Griffin or if the Clippers star is completely faking.
All I know is that Griffin either has horrible reflexes, or he just failed day one of The Three Stooges' School of Acting.
Imagine being hit in the face with a huge hand like Cousins'. You are likely to—oh, I don't know—flinch immediately upon contact.
Griffin takes a second before he cringes in pure agony.
Now, we can start the debate of whether or not this is gamesmanship of pure tomfoolery. I say that every NBA player does this stuff, but it doesn't make it right.
We all know NBA refs hardly need help to make the wrong call—they do that all on their own. Hell, one of Griffin's ridiculous dunks on Pau Gasol was an egregious foul, but the refs were sitting back and chomping on popcorn.
Griffin is amazing, brilliant and, it may seem, a little dirty.
