Just a day after Robin Lopez and Serge Ibaka were suspended for punching each other during a game, Blake Griffin and J.J. Barea got into a miniature scuffle of their own. But if you ask Barea, Griffin did some embellishing on the play.
J.J. Barea called out Blake Griffin for flopping after he was ejected for shoving him
Barea was ejected after pushing Griffin to the ground. He’s listed as 6’0.
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
“I gave him a little push,” Barea said, conceding to Mavs.com’s Earl K. Sneed he has no beef with Griffin . “He landed far over there.”
You be the judge:
In the third quarter of the Mavericks 97-95 loss to the Clippers on Thursday, Griffin attempted to set a screen on Barea at the top of the key. The Dallas guard took exception to Griffin’s play, though, and a small shoving match ensued.
Barea capped off his night with an elbow mush that sent Griffin tumbling to the floor. DeAndre Jordan stepped in and shoved Barea out of the way, and teammates came to intervene. Dallas’ point guard was assessed a flagrant foul two and was ejected from the game.
“I was getting squeezed and my guy was going to be open, so I pushed him out of the way,” Barea said of the contact. “They took it over the top. I never hit him in the face or anything.”
Barea scoffed at the ruling, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. He’s listed at 6’0, and according to Wesley Matthews, that listing is over a foot generous. Griffin is 6’10, 250 pounds of muscle. The Mavericks believe that under no circumstances should the All-Star high-flyer get dropped by a guy half his size.
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said Griffin had a “cat that ate the canary” smile after Barea was ejected, according to Sneed, but noted the sequence energized his team, then holding a five-point lead.
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