Serge Ibaka Fined $25,000 For Low Blow Against Blake Griffin

Mar 3, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers power forward Blake Griffin (32) shoots over Oklahoma City Thunder power forward Serge Ibaka (9) during the second half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Serge Ibaka was fined $25,000 by the league office today for a low blow against Blake Griffin in Sunday’s game when the Los Angeles Clippers played the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Clippers were mounting a huge comeback against the Thunder and you could tell that the frustration was mounting between the two teams. Play started to get chippy and before you know it, Ibaka does this.

Surely, you would think that a suspension was coming from a blow like this. There wasn’t speculation before hand about whether or not he would be suspended. People were talking about how many games he should get for his actions. Needless to say, most people were shocked when it was discovered that Ibaka was only going to be fined $25,000 for his actions.

Many people on social networking sites like twitter and facebook are saying that if this was any other player aside from Ibaka, they would’ve been suspended by now. This may very well be true. With Ibaka’s saintly past around the league and his great reputation, its no surprise that the league didn’t come down on him very hard for this.

Some players took to twitter to express their displeasure with the punishment that Ibaka received. Namely, LeBron James and Matt Barnes. They both had some very interesting things to say. Take a look:

You can INTENTIONALLY grab or hit someone in the balls & not get suspended, but you push someone & get suspended. #ImConfused

— Matt Barnes (@Matt_Barnes22) March 5, 2013

RT @matt_barnes22: Let me or @mettaworldpeace do that & I guarantee its a 5game suspension.. I luv *how* there … tmi.me/MIfUZ

— Matt Barnes (@Matt_Barnes22) March 5, 2013

So if I would have back handed Ibaka, I would have been the only one to get suspended right??????????????????????????

— Matt Barnes (@Matt_Barnes22) March 5, 2013

So explain to me the difference? My teammate gets a 1 game suspension and 150k+ taking away from him for his groin altercation #strangetome

— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 5, 2013

Surely, what these guys are saying has some merit to it. I definitely believe it does. Does the league have a double standard? I won’t go that far. But I will say this–when you have a history things don’t seem to go your way. And that’s probably what benefited Ibaka in the end.