Serge Ibaka’s blatant assault on the crotch of Clippers C Blake Griffin earlier today will undoubtedly be the talk of sports radio & TV Monday, however, students of modern NBA history are all-too aware this is not the first time a member of Donald Sterling’s lovely franchise has suffered such a fate. From CSTB, 4/30/2006 (“Reggie Evans Charged With Cock Block”) :
The NBA Playoffs are only 8 days old, but we’ll struggle to find a hotter story than today’s coverage of the Clippers’ Game 3 win over the Nuggets by the Denver Post’s Mark Kizla.
You don’t expect to tune in a playoff game on the tube and see a display so offensive it should be rated TV-14 for sexual situations.
It was obscene, not to mention cowardly, the way Denver forward Reggie Evans touched the private parts of L.A. center Chris Kaman during the second quarter.
“I felt violated,” Kaman said, ambushed below the belt by Evans, as the Nuggets scored on a rare clean jumper to cut L.A.’s lead to 30-27. “I felt I got a little violated by another man.”
There are many inventive ways to establish rebound position, but until Evans groped Kaman below the belt under the basket, I thought I had seen every dirty trick in basketball’s book.
Not to suggest the way Evans touched Kaman was risque, but I’m not sure Kim Cattrall ever did a more graphic scene on “Sex and the City.”
Kaman angrily responded by knocking Evans to the floor.
“I think it would have been stupid to swing or throw a punch, so I just kind of shoved him,” Kaman said.
There are not many unwritten rules in sports. Evans, however, broke No. 1: Do not mess with a man’s private business.
“It’s just inappropriate for a basketball game. Or any sport,” Kaman said.
If the Nuggets’ basketball IQ were any lower, somebody would have to water them as plants.