Detroit Pistons

Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond will miss at least one game after being hit in the face by James Johnson of the Miami Heat during Friday's 98-93 win. 

Per Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press, Drummond is in the NBA's concussion protocol and won't be available for Saturday's game against the Sacramento Kings. 

Drummond, who has never been one to miss significant time, appeared in 78 games a season ago to strong results. 

By season's end, Drummond averaged 15.0 points, 1.6 blocks and a league-leading 16.0 rebounds while dishing out a career-high 3.0 assists per game. 

Now in his first season playing for head coach Dwane Casey, Drummond has logged 16.3 points, 1.7 blocks and a league-best 14.9 boards per outing. 

As all those figures indicate, Drummond is one of the league's premier rebounders and second-chance opportunists.

He's also a robust pick-and-roll weapon who uses his length, speed and height to finish with authority as a rim-runner. Considering he can control the paint in a big way, losing him for even a brief stretch figures to hamper the Pistons' ability to do damage below the free-throw line. 

Zaza Pachulia should pick up extra minutes at center with Drummond down, while Blake Griffin figures to shoulder a more significant workload as the Pistons' frontcourt anchor. 

The NBA announced Thursday it fined Detroit Pistons power forward Blake Griffin $15,000 for "verbal abuse of a game official."

The league noted the disciplinary action stems from a situation at the end of the Pistons' 100-94 loss to the Utah Jazz on Monday night, but provided no further details about the incident.

Griffin finished the contest with 19 points, four rebounds and four assists in 36 minutes. He turned the ball over four times and was whistled for three fouls. At the team level, Detroit was called for 27 fouls compared to 18 for Utah.

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The loss marked the Pistons' 10th in their previous 13 games. They did bounce back to defeat the Orlando Magic in overtime Wednesday night, though.

Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo Sports noted it appeared Griffin told a referee to "f--k off" after the final buzzer.

Detroit returns to action Friday night against the Miami Heat.

A lot was made about Blake Griffin apparently snubbing Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer before Saturday's game, but the Detroit Pistons star denied that it was intentional after the game (warning: NSFW language):

"As soon as I'm done doing my pregame shooting, I make sure there is a path and then I take off running to the locker room and I don't stop running," Griffin explained of his usual routine. "... To tweet out something like that...I thought was kinda bulls--t."

The forward was competing in his first road game against the Clippers Saturday since being traded from Los Angeles last season. This led to some potential tension between him and the front office, and that seemed to come true when Ballmer tried to shake his hand before the game:

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He said this was nothing out of the ordinary, although he also refused to say whether he would shake Ballmer's hand if given the opportunity.

Griffin did send a message on the court, scoring 44 points in a 109-104 road win for Detroit.

While the Pistons have had an up-and-down season, the 29-year-old has had a big year as he tries to show Los Angeles it made a mistake by dealing him away.

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Detroit Pistons forward Blake Griffin dropped 44 points (on 13-of-23 shooting), eight rebounds, five assists and three steals in a 109-104 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday at the Staples Center.

Griffin, who was drafted first overall by the Clippers in 2009, played seven-plus seasons in L.A. and made five All-Star teams. The Clips reached the playoffs in Griffin's final six full seasons in uniform.

The game marked Griffin's first road contest against his old team since the ex-Oklahoma star was traded to the Pistons in January 2018.

In his first road game against the Los Angeles Clippers since being traded last year, Detroit Pistons star Blake Griffin didn't seem to want anything to do with Clippers owner Steve Ballmer on Saturday.

Instead of shaking hands during warmups, Griffin seemingly snubbed his former boss:

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Of course, this maneuver is common for his pregame routine is common for the forward, as James Edwards III of the Athletic noted:

Griffin denied the snub after the game, explaining that he doesn't change his routine for anyone:

Still, Ballmer seemed too close to Griffin to believe he didn't notice him on the court.

The five-time All-Star spent eight years with the Clippers before signing a five-year extension in 2017. However, he was traded to the Pistons a few months later and is apparently still not over it despite putting up career numbers in 2018-19.

Almost one year to the day since a surprise trade sent him to the Detroit Pistons, Blake Griffin has no regrets about how things played out with his former team.

Per ESPN.com's Kevin Arnovitz, Griffin doesn't hold a grudge against the Los Angeles Clippers for making the deal.

"I get it," Griffin said. "Basketball is a business and they said what they had to say at the time, and that's what I wanted to do. The only thing I wish is that [the trade] had gone down differently."

Despite being at peace with the deal, Griffin has not spoken to Clippers executives in the past 12 months and didn't answer calls from owner Steve Ballmer or head coach Doc Rivers as the trade was being finalized. 

The Clippers sent Griffin to Detroit on January 29, 2018, as part of a deal that included six total players (including Griffin) and two draft picks. He had agreed to a five-year contract extension with Los Angeles six months earlier after team management put together a lavish production about him as the face of the franchise. 

Per ESPN.com's Zach Lowe, here is how the Clippers sold Griffin on re-signing with them:

"When Griffin arrived at Staples Center for his free-agency pitch meeting on July 1, he found the Clippers had erected something of a maze for him with temporary walls. Griffin walked his 3-year-old son, Ford, through the art gallery-style corridors, and found photos hanging at each turn: Griffin on his green Huffy bike with his brother, Taylor, when they were kids; Griffin playing in college; Griffin as a Clipper.

"The maze spit Griffin out onto a couch overlooking the Staples Center court, above the lower bowl. Crowd noise pumped in. The team’s public address announcer declared the Clippers were retiring Griffin’s number. Team employees raised an actual banner into the rafters—a vision of the future they wanted."

Griffin spent eight-plus years with the Clippers and was instrumental in turning the franchise into a consistent playoff contender in the Western Conference. The five-time All-Star averaged 21.6 points and 9.3 rebounds in 504 games from 2010-18. 

Saturday will mark Griffin's first trip to Staples Center to take on the Clippers as a visiting player. He's averaging a career-high 25.3 points in his first full season with the Pistons.