Blake Griffin appeared in the news for all the wrong reasons this week. The Los Angeles Clippers’ power forward broke his hand in a fight with a team equipment manager. The incident led to much well-deserved criticism for Griffin as his act was perceived as a violent transgression that also hurt his team.
Clippers coach Doc Rivers, however, is preaching forgiveness for his star player. While Rivers did criticize Griffin publicly and state that his actions were not indicative of those of a professional, he also made sure to protect Griffin from the harsh outlook from fans:
Doc Rivers on his conversations w/ Blake Griffin: "He feels awful. I don't know what more he can do than that. You've got to forgive people"
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) January 30, 2016
I’m sure Griffin does feel awful. He made a terrible mistake that has changed much of the public perception around him. Additionally, he hurt someone who he is reportedly friendly with and damaged his team’s chances of contending for a title. Nevertheless, as Rivers points out, it is time to move on and do everything possible to make up for the mistake.
Rivers had one other interesting quote in regards to forgiving Griffin:
Doc Rivers preaching forgiveness on Blake Griffin: "We built Richard Nixon a library."
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) January 30, 2016
Well, that’s certainly something.
