Blake Griffin takes a jab at Doc Rivers

2023-02-09 09:54

Blake Griffin called out Doc Rivers for not making any changes to his game plan and leaving him wide open to shoot threes, a thing Rivers has been infamous for his entire NBA coaching career.

Credit: USA TODAY Sports - Scanpix
Credit USA TODAY Sports - Scanpix

Last night against the Philadelphia 76ers, Blake Griffin played his highest-scoring game for the Boston Celtics this season.

The former All-Star forward made 5 triples in the game and was tied for second on the team in scoring with 15 points. Asked after the game what got him going from beyond the arc, Griffin was simple - the 76ers left him wide open.

"When a team leaves you open like that, you just have to try and make them pay. I was shooting open shots all night, it was nice to see some of them go through," he said.

Player of the Game
Derrick  White
EFF
21
Derrick White
Points 19
Accuracy 8-13
Rebounds 6
Assists 3

When a journalist asked whether he took it as disrespect, Griffin denied it but took a jab at his former coach Doc Rivers who's now the head coach of the 76ers.

"I don't really take it as disrespect. It hurt them. That was their game plan, obviously. Doc makes that game plan. They didn't adjust which has been sort of a thing," the Celtics player told the media. "No disrespect though."

Doc Rivers famously has an unpleasant history of playoff collapses. The notion started gaining ground when Doc was coaching the Celtics more than a decade ago. Led by Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo, the team lost a 3-2 lead in the 2010 NBA Finals and the 2012 Eastern Conference Final against LeBron James' Miami Heat.

When Rivers transferred to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2013, his playoff woes continued. In fact, one of the biggest playoff collapses followed in 2015.

With Blake Griffin as one of the main stars of the roster, the Clippers had a 3-1 lead against the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference Semifinal. The Clippers had an 87-68 lead with just over 2 minutes remaining in the third quarter of Game 6 but then Houston's coach Kevin McHale made the bold choice to bench James Harden.

The situation turned around completely. The Rockets ended up winning Game 6 by 12 and took the series in the all-deciding Game 7.

Griffin signed a huge five-year $173 million deal which was a franchise record at the time. A year later, Griffin was traded away. Rivers was responsible for the trade as he was the vice president of basketball operations in the organization. Griffin reportedly did not return Doc's phone calls after the news.



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