Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green Suspended for 2 games

No they get more pleasure by letting him play and then calling all the BS calls they can on him.

 

LA Clippers guard Austin Rivers said he and Houston Rockets swingman Trevor Ariza spoke for 35 minutes this week to hash out their differences after Monday's heated confrontations on the court and later in the Clippers' locker room.

"First and foremost, me and Trevor have no problems," Rivers told ESPN in a lengthy interview after the Clippers' win over the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night. "He called me. He reached out to me. Trevor and I talked and hashed everything out. He was really cool about being the bigger guy and calling me."

"The whole game was filled with cheap shots. So I'm not calling anyone out. But he [Ariza] had given Blake [Griffin] a little something and he walked towards our bench. So what do you expect is going to happen? I started talking to him. If I cheap-shotted James Harden, their best player, and I walked down by the Houston bench, you don't think anybody on their bench would've started talking to me? OK then."

Rivers said he yelled out, "Do it! Do it!" to Ariza and that both cameras and Ariza would verify that. But at the time, "he didn't hear what I said. [So Ariza] turned around and said, 'What the f--- did you just say to me?' Then he called me some stuff. And I'm a grown man. I'm not going to take nothing from nobody, just like he wouldn't. So I took offense to it. And he didn't know what I said. So after the game he came in the locker room and his whole thing was, 'What'd he say? What'd he say?'"

After the game, Rivers said that Ariza reached out to several of his former Rockets teammates, who were traded to the Clippers in the Chris Paul deal during this past offseason, and Montrezl Harrell brokered a phone call between the two.

"Trev called me and was like, 'My bad man. I thought you said something. Obviously the game was emotional.' I was like, 'My bad man, I wasn't trying to antagonize.'"

Rivers admitted that as an injured player, he was trying to get under the Rockets' skin all game. But he has decided to speak publicly on this because he feels "trash talk can get confused with fight talk" and "I don't want people thinking I say disrespectful things to people. I keep all my trash talk to basketball. I don't ever go after anybody."

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ton-rockets-trevor-ariza-heated-confrontation​

 

The Houston Rockets are shocked and disappointed that Blake Griffin and Austin Rivers avoided any disciplinary action as a result of the events during and after the Clippers' contentious win Monday night in Los Angeles, team sources told ESPN.

Rockets forwards Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green were both suspended two games for entering the Clippers' locker room and engaging "in a hostile, verbal altercation with several Clippers players," according to an NBA news release.

The Rockets are upset that Griffin and Rivers weren't disciplined for their roles in the events that led to Ariza's anger escalating to the point that he stormed into the Clippers' locker room to confront them.

The Rockets are adamant that Griffin intentionally made contact with Mike D'Antoni late in the fourth quarter, moments before a heated confrontation between the Houston coach and the Clippers star forward. D'Antoni was arguing a goaltending non-call on the previous possession when Griffin cussed at him, according to a source, and veered toward him, making contact while D'Antoni stood on the sideline. After being fouled moments later, Griffin made a beeline toward D'Antoni, with double technical fouls being called after they exchanged expletives.

Rivers, wearing a protective boot and a suit while sitting out due to an ankle injury, stood on the court in front of the Clippers' bench and talked trash to Ariza with 1:03 remaining in the game. That prompted a confrontation between Ariza and Griffin that resulted in double technical fouls and their ejections.

According to Rockets sources, Rivers continued the profane trash talk after the game, yelling loudly enough in the Clippers' locker room for Ariza to hear him from the hallway, where players commonly congregate and visiting teams frequently put food and equipment. Sources said those insults, including calling Ariza out by name, caused Ariza's anger to mount.

Clippers coach Doc Rivers was asked if other teams seem to continually test their players.

"They're not testing me, I'm not playing. Unless D'Antoni tries to test me, you know, and that'd be something different. But no, I mean, they test everybody. It's not just Blake and Austin. It's everybody," Rivers said after the Clippers' 109-104 win Wednesday over the Nuggets. "Just go through the league, you see it every night. You know, Blake and Austin's names are more nuclear, if you print their names and it comes out. But, it's our league, you know? It's much ado about nothing, if you want me to be honest. A lot of talk, you know, and then you go find someone to say something. And then if you write Austin's name or Blake's name, you get a big article, everybody reads it, and that creates more news. And to me, it's just white noise. I think it is for our team as well."

One source said the Rockets anticipated a one-game suspension for Ariza, based on league precedent, but were surprised that Green's punishment exceeded a fine.

No other players were fined or suspended, including Rockets stars Chris Paul and James Harden, who followed Ariza and Green into the hallway between the locker rooms in an attempt to defuse the situation, the league's investigation determined. Some in the Houston organization are annoyed by the perception that Paul's role as National Basketball Players Association president helped him avoid discipline, agreeing with the league's conclusion that he served as a peacemaker.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ppers-blake-griffin-austin-rivers-disciplined​

 

Doc needs to ask why Austin's name is "nuclear."

 

Oh you mean like that cheap shot that dirty ass clown B*tch Griffin took on our bleeping head coach?!

 

Crazy that Blake didn't get punished at all, which I predicted. I guess it's cool to point at, run out of bounds and elbow opposing coaches now. Even if you've done it before.

 

2/28 and 3/15

 

Gerald Green would fall into that category.

 

Ariza called and apologized.. RIP contentious final 2 meetings? Media not going to like this.

 

Austin Rivers: Trevor Ariza and I 'have no problems' following chat

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ton-rockets-trevor-ariza-heated-confrontation

 

Conspiracy theory - He doesn't have problems... because Austin Rivers is dead to him.

 

One silver lining from this, 50% of Ariza and Green's salary for the two games that they are suspended -- will not be applied toward luxury tax calculations!

 

Blake still has it coming.

 

tad brown putting up zero fight. maybe tillman doesn't want to make too much noise as a rookie owner

 

If the players have no issue with each other, then why did the NBA feel the need to step in and suspend players? A fine maybe but 2 games doesn't make sense. No fight broke out.

The league has been a joke since Adam Silver took over. He always plays favorites and makes sure the Warriors have the upper hand every time, & they don't need any help to win games. Saturday's game could be important for the standings. The league and media would rather be in Oakland than Houston for majority of the WCF. I'm not emotionally invested in the NBA like I once was, everything seems so scripted. There are rarely any upsets! The refs have too much power, while forgetting there's no games without the players. The league hates the Rockets for some reason. At first I thought they hated Les Alexander but I was wrong. The hate continues.

 

Lol classic case of can dish it out but can't take it. Quit calling people names and then typing 3000 word essays about online bullying

 

So why wasn't taken into consideration that Ariza reached out to the guy? Honestly, while it's good for Ariza he reached out to Rivers, it makes the 2-game suspension and rushing in the locker room look worse. Why go in there just to know what he said? I thought it was mainly about him cussing us out during the game and in the locker room as well as Blake, but if that's really not the case, Ariza should've kept his cool..silly

 

Screwed us? How so? Was it the league that let the Clipps punk them on national TV Monday night? Was the league responsible for their pathetic defensive effort in that game? Did the league instruct MDA to be far out of the coaching box and on the court and to yip at the refs and opposing team players and get into a shouting match with Griffin? Or was the league somehow responsible when Paul, Harden, Ariza & Co tried to gain entry to the Clipps locker room through a back entrance after the game? Oh, I get it: it was the league that was behind all of the Internet memes, jokes (the league made Shaq and Barkley to break down laughing at them on national TV and then released it on Youtube and the like) and comedic depictions of the Rockets looking for a fight after the game.

Here's the reality of the situation whether you choose to accept it or not. Had Paul, and Co. stayed in their own locker room and taken their butt whipping like men, there would be NO suspensions, NO belly laughs on national TV and NO jokes, memes and ridicule at this team's expense nationwide. There would simply be NO story and the fact that there is one is due solely to the childish, immature actions of the Rocket players and not the LEAGUE. You want them to retaliate? Have each of them look long and hard in a mirror FIRST.