Blake Griffin Throws Shoe, Hits Opponent In Face In Clippers’ 104-98 Preseason Win Over Raptors

After a brutal road loss to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Clippers rebounded Wednesday to secure a 104-98 home victory over the Toronto Raptors in their second pre-season game.

Blake Griffin Throws Shoe, Hits Opponent In Face

Wednesday’s exhibition game was marked, however, by a rather strange incident. With about six minutes remaining in the second quarter, the Clippers’ Jamal Crawford’s sneaker fell off while ball-handling, so his teammate Blake Griffin picked it up for him near the arc, probably so nobody would trip on hit, but also because Crawford passed the ball to Griffin, and the latter had to focus on receiving the pass well. Thus, Griffin tossed the shoe without looking, thinking he was going to do Crawford a favor by returning his sneaker. However, Griffin’s throw was awful, so much so that the shoe ended up hitting Raptors point guard Cory Joseph right in the face.

Here is the shoe toss:

Joseph, naturally, immediately clutched his face and then motioned for someone to notice the unusual foul play.

Griffin set the tone for Los Angeles, scoring 24 points on 10-for-13 shooting, adding eight rebounds and dishing out five assists. He also went 2-for-3 on three-pointers.

DeAndre Jordan had a double-double, with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and also made four of six free throws.

Chris Paul, who had more fouls (five) than points (one) against the Warriors, had 15 assists along with seven points and six rebounds.

Still, Clippers coach Doc Rivers vows to continue to push his team all season to become one of the free teams.

“I would say Cleveland and Golden State [are free teams]. I don’t think there’s anybody more than that,” Rivers said. “You can look at all kinds of series last year and you can see it. When things get tough, things changed. It takes a while. That’s a tough one.”

Rivers also added he had planned on not playing J.J. Redick against the Raptors “because he wanted to take it slow” with his shooting guard. Raymond Felton started instead. Rookie forward Brice Johnson limped to the locker room in the fourth quarter, accompanied by a member of the team’s training staff.

After trailing by as much as 20 in the second half, Toronto scored 19 in a row in the 4th quarter to go up 91-90 with 3:49 left in the game. The Raptors rested Kyle Lowry for the game.

The Clippers will next host the Utah Jazz on Monday, while the Raptors will visit the Cleveland Cavaliers on Oct. 13.

Caption:LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 25: Blake Griffin #32 of the Los Angeles Clippers jumps to the basket for a layup against the Los Angeles Lakers in the first half at Staples Center on December 25, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. The Clippers defeated the Lakers 94-84.