The Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers face off on Monday night at the Staples Center in what was one of the most highly anticipated preseason or exhibition games in recent memory. At the end of the night, the Clippers walked away with the dominating victory, in particular completely owning the second half of play. There was one interesting call in the second quarter, however, that leads to some questions about the nature of exhibition games.
Clippers players Chauncey Billups and Blake Griffin found themselves with a wide-open half-court and a loose basketball. Billups may have only just joined the team, but even he knows that slam dunks are sort of Griffin's thing. So he obliged both Griffin and the fans and laid it up for him. Here's what happened:
Griffin got a technical foul called against him for hanging from the rim following the dunk. It didn't seem overly excessive, but as the announcers pointed out, the rulebook specifically states when and why you can hang and this didn't appear to be one of those situations.
At the same time: this is an exhibition game. Isn't it supposed to be a little lenient in certain areas? perhaps the NBA feels the shortened preseason needs to be a chance for the officials to be brought up to speed in short order as well. Makes sense on a certain level.
But what do you think? Foul or no foul?
For all news and information on the Clippers and hanging on the rim and drawing technical fouls, please visit Clips Nation.