Late in the second quarter of the Pistons’ game against the Hawks on Sunday, Blake Griffin was called for a loose-ball foul that he did not quite agree with. So how did the newly traded All-Star take out his frustration with the referees? He picked up the basketball and threw it directly at… Atlanta point guard Dennis Schroder.
Blake Griffin got T’d up for throwing the ball at Dennis Schroder’s head. ? pic.twitter.com/J2WMQTDEOA
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 11, 2018
It’s tough to figure out from the video whether Griffin had reason to be mad at Schroeder, who was not even the player he was accused of fouling, but it does look as if the guard said something to Blake after the play. Apparently Schroder’s words warranted a ball to the noggin. Or maybe Griffin was just in a bad mood.
The real fun, however, comes after the ball hits Schroeder’s head. The 172-pound guard takes a couple steps toward his 251-pound opponent, then decides he is not particularly interested in a confrontation. Griffin, meanwhile, pays Schroder absolutely zero mind as he turns to address the ref. The ref separates the two players just far enough so that he can issue a technical foul. And Griffin looks surprised and exasperated over his punishment, as if he could have expected anything else.
Anyway, Shroder missed the ensuing technical free-throw, and Dewayne Dedmon made only one of the two freebies he earned from Griffin’s original foul, so the whole ordeal amounted to little more than some yuks. Shroder and the Hawks came out ahead in the end, though, winning 118-115.
