The Griffin Who Clipped His Wings

There is a shortlist of players that entered the NBA highly decorated and hit the ground running. From the moment they touched the hardwood they began to excite the crowd and became an instant household name. Put together highlight after highlight that ran on all over every major sports channel. Put up eye-popping stats that made them an immediate NBA All-Star. Left lifelong memories from their performance during All-Star Saturday Night that made them an instant pitchman. Although injuries have grounded this once budding star, I still have him on my list of must-see players and that's what peaked my interest. With an unexpected mid-season trade and a trip that was planned three months before tip-off created the perfect set of circumstances for this to happen. Upon arriving at the game, I was under the impression that Blake Griffin was still a fan favorite around the NBA. That was immediately proven inaccurate as he was booed immediately by the Philips Arena crowd as soon as he hit the floor for warm-ups. The crowd was on him every time he touched the ball during warm-ups and especially when his name was called during pregame announcements. It was quite shocking because he is not known as a super villain around the league but for some reason, he is not well liked. I found this situation rather interesting while sitting in the crowd and it was something that I paid a lot of attention to during the game.

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Originally posted on Duffel Bag Adventures on February 17, 2018 12:30 pm