Blake Griffin is not known as a dirty player, but maybe a 'dirty player magnet.' Earlier this year he got Serge Ibaka ejected. This time, he got a taste of his an early locker room session.

The Clippers All-Star forward was tossed out of their Christmas Day game against the Golden State Warriors as mandatory penalty for garnering two technical fouls. Griffin (seriously somebody give this guy a nickname) was called for his first technical after reacting to Draymond Green's elbow to his face. He got his second technical when Warriors center Andrew Bogut tangled with him for a rebound play and he had to push him away.

From Blake's point of view, two 'dirty plays' directed at him by separate players was a deliberate attempt to provoke him. They wanted him out of the game.

In a report from Arash Markazi of ESPN LA, Griffin shares his thoughts:

"If you look at it, I didn't do anything, and I got thrown out of the game. It all boils down to they (the referees) fell for it. To me, that's cowardly. That's cowardly basketball. Instead of just playing straight up and playing a game, it got into something more than that, and it's unfortunate because you want to play a team head-to-head. You don't want to start playing other games and playing cowardly basketball."

Also from ESPN, Griffin's coach, Doc Rivers, takes a 'challenging' tone: "Honestly, I thought we were just kicking their butts and they went to something else, to be honest. But that's fine."

Andrew Bogut responded to that charge. From CSN Bay Area: "We did whatever it took to win the game. We made the big plays toward the end. Everyone's entitled to their opinion and their comments. We're not really affected by that. We'd rather be called cowards and come out with a win."

For basketball pundits, that strategy has been used before. While it may be considered as 'cheap' and 'cowardly,' All-Star level players should know better than to react in a manner that can get them ejected. Griffin was at the borderline with his reaction, and the NBA has announced that ejecting Griffin was a mistake. The official NBA press release (quote from ESPN) from NBA president of basketball operations Rod Thorn issued last Thursday:

 "After a league review of the Clippers-Warriors game, we have come to the conclusion that Blake Griffin should not have been ejected from the game. A common foul should have been called on Griffin for initially attempting to dislodge the Warriors' Andrew Bogut and a technical foul should have been assessed to Bogut for grabbing Griffin by the shirt and wrestling with him."

Perhaps the referees were drawn to the call from Bogut's taunting gesture and home crowd's jeers (the Warriors had home court advantage). The league acknowledges that the refs should be unaffected by those factors and execute the correct decision.

One thing's for sure, the next meeting between the Warriors and the Clippers on January 30 is a must-see!