The NBA says Blake Griffin should not have been ejected

Dec 25, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Referees separate Los Angeles Clippers power forward Blake Griffin (32) from Golden State Warriors players as Griffin is assessed his second technical foul and ejected from the game during the fourth quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

During the Golden State Warriors’ 105-103 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Christmas night Wednesday, Clippers’ power forward Blake Griffin and Warriors’ center Andrew Bogut got tangled up in an attempt to grab a rebound and got into a bit of a scrum. There was pushing, shoving and grappling, but it never really escalated any more, at least not at that point. However, after the scrum, Griffin was ejected from the game.

On Thursday, the NBA admitted that was the wrong decision.

“After a league review of the Clippers-Warriors game, we have come to the conclusion that Blake Griffin should not have been ejected from the game,” NBA president of basketball operations Rod Thorn said in a statement Thursday. “A common foul should have been called on Griffin for initially attempting to dislodge the Warriors’ Andrew Bogut and a technical foul should have been assessed to Bogut for grabbing Griffin by the shirt and wrestling with him.”

Griffin obviously agreed. After the game, he told reporters he felt like he “got two technicals for nothing.”

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