Monty Williams was not the guy out there on the court that ran over Blake Griffin and hockey checked him to the ground. That was Jason Smith (who got a two game suspension for his actions).
But Williams is the coach of the Hornets — the team Smith played for — and he said he wanted to apologize to Griffin himself for the hit and did. Via ESPNLosAngeles.com.Williams, in his second season as the Hornets’ coach, texted Griffin on Friday, waiting until the day after Smith hit him to earn a two-game suspension for the buzz to die down, he said…
“I’ll say this, because I’m here in this city: What Jason did was wrong,” Williams said Monday. “I told him that it was and that he went about it the wrong way, and that’s why I reached out to Blake to let him know that it wasn’t something we do on a regular basis.”But Williams, who played in the NBA in the 1990s, when the game was more physical, said Griffin understands he is going to take some hard fouls because of how he plays.
“He’s no fool -- he knows he’s making people look crazy and guys don’t like that,” Williams said of Griffin. “He’s gotta expect some of that. It’s just gonna happen. If you jump 5 feet over somebody and dunk it and you got people coming up to you and hugging you after you do it, the opponent’s not gonna say, ‘Oh, man, can you do that again?’
“He’s a phenomenon, and a lot of guys don’t like that.”