According to ESPN on March 5, the NBA fined Serge Ibaka $25,000 for the below the belt shot he took at Blake Griffin in the Oklahoma City Thunder's win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday. Ibaka avoided a suspension for the incident.
In the game, Ibaka and Griffin were locked up under the basket during a Clippers' 3-point attempt. Ibaka claims he was trying to get untangled from Griffin and accidentally hit him in the groin. Griffin disagrees with that assessment because he said Ibaka had hold of Griffin's arm before taking the low blow.
Griffin said he was surprised there was not a one-game suspension for the hit, but said he thinks he knows why.
"It is surprising, but it is a big game tonight," Griffin said, speaking of the Thunder's home court battle with the Los Angeles Lakers. "I don't know. It's a big game, though. It's kind of a mess. It's kind of a tough situation. Whatever the NBA wants to do and however they want to handle it, we'll let them handle it that way."
Despite his confusion, and his obvious belief that Ibaka should face a suspension, he said that he won't cry over it and won't worry about doing anything about it.
Despite the fine, Stu Jackson, the NBA executive vice president for basketball operations, said referees should have ejected Ibaka from the game. Kendrick Perkins, on the other hand, came out and accused Blake Griffin of being known for flopping.
Serge Ibaka scored 13 points with six rebounds and two blocks against the Los Angeles Lakers in his first game since the incident.
For e-mail updates whenever a new article is posted, please click here and use the SUBSCRIBE button to follow me. Also join me on Twitter: @starvingdogs, GooglePlus, or join my group on Facebook.
Comments