The game was over, in any real sense of the word. It was 99-90 Clippers with 5.7 seconds left. Randy Foye would shoot his free throws, the Lakers would dribble out the clock and the Clippers would have beaten their second elite team in a week.
But it didn’t end quietly.
As Foye shot and made the second free throw Lamar Odom boxed out Blake Griffin — and Griffin wanted the position so he shoved Odom under the basket to get it. Odom, turned and grabbed Griffin’s jersey and pulled him under the basket with him. And suddenly you had them jawing, Baron Davis running in to protect Griffin and pushing Odom, which led to an escalation of pushing and talking and everything that passes for fights in the NBA. Ron Artest jumped in the middle of it to push Odom out and be a peacemaker.
After the refs talked amongst themselves, Odom, Griffin, Davis and Artest were all ejected. Terrible decision to throw out Artest by the way, they clearly tossed him based on his reputation and not his actions. Artest got T’d up for the crime of being Ron Artest, nothing more (and after the game he took the high road and did not criticize the refs). He got in the middle but did nothing except separate Odom from the scrum.
Monday, the league rescinded the technical on Griffin and Artest. Odom and Davis still get fined.
But that’s not the interesting part of all this.
The interesting point is a question Zach Lowe brings up at Sports Illustrated — is there a time to turn off the hustle and coast to the end? I don’t mean like the Cavaliers are doing with their entire season, I mean the final seconds of an already decided game.
The game was over, whatever happened with the free throw, yet Griffin played the final seconds of this like it was a tied game. On one hand you want guys who hustle — how many coaches told you to play to the whistle? Griffin was just playing hard at the end.
But there is an unwritten rule here — why risk injuring yourself or others over a meaningless play? The last seconds of an NBA games (and college games and high school games) are played out this way all the time. Dribble out the clock and move on. Odom said that to ESPN’s Brian Kamenetzky after the game.
“Maybe I overreacted, but I just feel like if you’re up nine with the three throw going through, the ram in the back, at that point,” Odom said shaking his head no. “Any other time I get it. You’re playing hard, strong. But the ram in the back up nine? I just don’t get it.”
Honestly, you can make the case either way here and have valid points. But I tend to side with Odom — it was a made free throw and the game was all but over. There is a time to turn it off, and that was it.
