Blake Griffin throws ball at ref, blames him for not catching it

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin earned a technical foul for throwing the ball at a referee.

And he says he will be fined because the referee can't catch.

That's precisely what Griffin yelled during the Clippers 113-102 loss Wednesday to the Boston Celtics at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The sequence occurred with about 2:45 remaining in the game. The Clippers faced a 110-97 deficit at the time. The Clippers were getting back on defense after a made basket. The ball landed by Griffin. He picked it up and tossed it toward the referee. The fastball blazed by the official, who immediately gave him a technical foul. Griffin was heard on the microphone saying that the referee should have caught the ball.

"Now I gotta pay money because you can't [expletive] catch," Griffin said.

Griffin scored a game-high 23 points and had five rebounds and three assists in the loss.

"No, I mean, I took him out," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said after the game, referring to Griffin. "I called a timeout to do that. But he was frustrated. He's competitive. You know, he wanted to win the game. He probably wanted to play better. He wanted the team to play better. But that didn't happen, and Blake's very competitive."

Griffin now has six technical fouls on the season.