Washington Wizards At Los Angeles Clippers: Regular Season Game 70 Open Thread

We all know the story here: the Wizards against the League's new Golden Goose, Blake Griffin. The last two times these teams met, Griffin was given just about every single call the referees could think of and spent most of the second half on the bench reclining and being fed grapes by a league official. My favorite foul was when Trevor Booker was whistled for raising his eyebrow archly at the young superstar, and Trevor was lucky to not earn a double technical and be ejected from the game.

All this is short for stating that the NBA is in danger of killing it's Goose before it sees a proper return from the magical eggs. Casual fans like superstars to be sure, but the league already suffers from criticism over "star" calls and the perceived favoritism towards the strong over the weak. Griffin for now resides as the King of Youtube, but a few years of the LeBron treatment will do much to sour him to fans in other cities. That is, until he becomes a free agent.

This isn't to say that Griffin isn't a transcendent talent, I'm just not sure that he needs the extra two steps on his dunk attempts or to be protected from the ministrations of Kevin Seraphin and Trevor Booker. After all, its not like the Wizards frontline is playing defense at a Celtics-like level and any injury that is likely to befall him will result from Yi tripping over another player's leg and toppling rather than concerted defensive focus.

The last meeting between the two teams also proved to be rather woeful experience for Wizards fans as it was one of the more troubling performances of the teams in regards to effort. This of course was the notorious game in which JaVale McGee let Eric Bledsoe blow by him, was outdribbled by Chris Kaman, and had a couple head scratching goaltends. Since that game, McGee has come on strong, limiting his errors and played an arguably more heady game if still replete with the usual foibles. Tonight McGee faces DeAndre Jordan who thoroughly torched JaVale in their last meeting. My hope is that McGee puts the dunk contest behind him and dominates his matchup rather than concentrate on showing up Griffin.

Last night was exceptional in the Game Thread and I want to thank everyone for coming out. It was great to see both the old timers and the newcomers gather to swap drink recommendations and argue over the benefits of reccing. Lets keep the good times going tonight and welcome Randy Foye back into our lives for another night.

GO WIZARDS!!!