Not sure what is going on here but enjoy this photo of Val Kilmer with Blake Griffin, Dave Chappelle, and comedian/Chappelle’s Show co-creator Neal Brennan. Courtesy of Val Kilmer’s twitter.

Look at these basketball players. 

Via Madelyn Burke

2009 #1 pick Blake Griffin sat on the bench for most of the fourth quarter, while 2000 #1 pick Kenyon Martin won Game 7 for the Clippers (with a little help from Reggie Evans, Mo Williams, Eric Bledsoe, and, oh yeah, Chris Paul).

The much-maligned Vinny Del Negro deserves credit with sticking with his effective bench well into the fourth quarter, though it’s still possible Chauncey Billups is actually deciding the player rotations.

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

While every one and their mother wants to throw Blake Griffin out of the league for flopping and an inability to play tough (if the referees are going to call it, then it’s on the referees), there are more glaring problems in his overall game. 

Griffin only had five rebounds before fouling out in over time. I believe Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said something in the post game press conference that the Clippers bigs were attempting to box out Memphis on the glass, but the Grizzlies won the rebound game that night. 

So, Blake Griffin, please get more rebounds and lock yourself in a gym and work on those free throws. 

Also, Zach Randolph isn’t fully back from his injury and if ZBo was 100%, it would be a completely different series. 

(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Have to agree with C-Webb on the topic of Blake Griffin’s flopping. It’s like he’s developing a split personality. On the one hand there is the ferocious dunker, “Quake”, yet other times some guy named “Fake” Griffin shows up. “Fake” is the guy who looks to Kenyon Martin for comfort when he sees Zach Randolph glaring at him.

~w.W.

(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)