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A Minnesota Timberwolves heckler was responsible for getting Detroit Pistons star Blake Griffin extra-motivated for a fourth-quarter surge that forced overtime on Wednesday night.
Rich Ruohonen, an attorney at TSR Injury Law in Bloomington, embraced the playful banter he often exchanges with athletes while sitting courtside at the Target Center, but Griffin had enough of his comments, which honed into his mediocre career 3-point shooting numbers.
Ruohonen started in the first half, asking Griffin to keep shooting from outside, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
“I told him he was career 33 percent from 3 so keep shooting it. And he went one for his first five in the first half,” Ruohonen said. “I told him in the third, ‘See I told you! Just bring it inside where you have a chance.'”
Griffin would soon change that fate, as he erupted for 18 of his 34 points in the fourth to help the Pistons overcome a 14-point deficit.
“Keep talkin’!” Griffin said to Ruohonen after every basket. “Keep talkin’!”
The star power forward hit 6-of-9 shots in the fourth period, including going 4-of-5 from deep to help force overtime, where Detroit came out victorious with a 129-123 road win.
“Whoops,” Ruohonen said, bashfully. “My bad.”
The Timberwolves could do little to contain a bombing at the hands of a motivated Blake Griffin and an outside sniper like Reggie Bullock, who finished with 33 points in the game.
“I said, ‘Man, good shots. I was just betting on history,'” Ruohonen said, insisting his exchange with Griffin was all in good fun. “It was funny.”
Not so funny for the Timberwolves, though, who have lost five of their last six games and now are bound to face the San Antonio Spurs, who have won six of their last seven games in hopes of making a push into the playoffs.
