Kobe to Blake: Stand up to fouls

Post #1 » by **mkwest** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 11:41 pm

Kobe Bryant, long an admirer of Griffin and his aggressive style, offered up some different advice.

"I'd smack the f--- out of somebody," Bryant told ESPNLosAngeles.com Tuesday. "I've known him for a while and he's a really nice guy so I don't know if he'd want to do that. But I would. I would've done it early in the year."

Bryant said he endured similar physical challenges from opponents early in his career. He took his cue on how to deal with it by watching his then-teammate Shaquille O'Neal.

"At some point you have to protect yourself," Bryant said. "I've had to do it many times in my career. I've seen Shaq do it many times, too. Some guys you just don't mess with.

"I saw Shaq crack somebody his first year. I did it my first few years. Sometimes people feel like they can take advantage of you, they hit you and this, that, and the other.

"Sometimes you have to say, 'Look, you're not going to do this to me. I'll take two games but you're not going to put my health at risk by injuring me potentially. It's not going to happen.'"

Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro called on the league office to suspend Lopez for that foul, which resulted in a flagrant 2 and Lopez's ejection. He has also sent tapes to the league throughout the season of fouls on Griffin that were both called and not called.

"The game is physical and Blake is a physical player," Del Negro said. "As long as it's above board I think we're all fine with it but when he's up in the air, shots like he took against Phoenix are a big concern. The league has got to step in now.

Ramona Shelburne, ESPN Los Angeles

TheNewEra · Post #2 » by **TheNewEra** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 6:20 am

Got to agree with Kobe here

Post #3 » by **thanumba2clippersfan** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 4:12 am

After reading some of these articles I think Blake should do something. I'm personally getting tired of everyone always fouling him hard. The playoffs wouldn't be a good place to start unless our playoff run is close to being over.

Post #4 » by **mkwest** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 4:17 am

thanumba2clippersfan wrote:After reading some of these articles I think Blake should do something. I'm personally getting tired of everyone always fouling him hard. The playoffs wouldn't be a good place to start unless our playoff run is close to being over.

Kobe said it would have been better to do something early in the season. I agree with that. If you get suspended a couple of games, you still have a chance to recover. Now isn't a great time at all. A hard (clean) foul could work, but not much more than that.