A sad trend has started to developed in the first round of the 2012 playoffs. It started in Philadelphia when Sixers fans cheered Joakim Noah’s injury and it happened again in Memphis last night.
The biggest bone of contention with Blake Griffin is his flopping. Griffin isn’t tough enough. He falls down with the slightest touch. So when he went down late in the third quarter after making contact with Marc Gasol, the fans at FedEx Forum began to boo and Twitter started to call Griffin, “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”.
I would hope at this point we as basketball fans would be able to tell the difference between a flop and an actual injury. Obviously watching the game on television, I had a better understanding of what happened and the knowledge that the knee Griffin strained was the same leg that he injured back in 2009 and sidelined him for an entire season. This isn’t a soccer and a trainer isn’t going to come out with a magical spray can, when a trainer comes to the floor, it’s probably an injury.
Fans have the right to boo any player they want, but can we just hold off when it comes to an injury? If the injury was faked, then boo the player as soon as he gets back up and runs around the court.
As for Griffin and Paul’s injuries: Blake Griffin sprained his left knee and is expected to have an MRI today and Paul has a sore right hip.
AP Photo/Mark Humphrey
