Although it was a reckless act that was quite detrimental to the team and himself, Doc Rivers has forgiven Blake Griffin for punching Matias Testi, a Clippers equipment manager. Griffin broke his hand in the incident and could miss up to two months after undergoing surgery to fix the fracture.
Rivers has not only accepted Griffin's apology, he thinks the Clippers forward deserves forgiveness because even former President Richard Nixon was forgiven for his actions.
From Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times:
Rivers said Griffin had expressed remorse in conversations with the coach and his teammates. Griffin also has resumed speaking to Testi, Rivers said, though the coach did not know whether the longtime friends had reached an agreement that would avoid a legal entanglement.
“He feels awful about it and he's let everyone know that,” Rivers said of Griffin. “That's all you can do, man. You have to forgive people at some point. I believe that. We built Richard Nixon a library.”
While it is somewhat strange for Rivers to compare Griffin to Nixon, the Clippers coach is right. What Griffin did was wrong and stupid but it shouldn't hang over his head for his entire career. Especially since Griffin openly admitted to his wrongdoing and apologized to the team and Testi.
