It’s not always a good idea to drive to the basket whenever Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jerami Grant is patrolling the shaded area. An L.A. Clippers rookie, whom we'll keep anonymous to protect him from the savagery of the aftermath of Grant's block, knew of that lesson the hard way, when his layup attempt was sent by Grant many layers down the earth during Thursday's game at Staples Center.

Well, not really. Just straight into the face of the referee, who was watching the play from underneath the basket.

My God, that referee has a family, Jerami!

He also has a name – J.T. Orr. Orr, who has been involved in over 300 NBA regular season matches in six years as a game official in the league, was not injured by the wayward leather, however. He even managed to blow his whistle right after to call an out of bounds play as though nothing happened. That’s the equivalent of a man surviving a multi-vehicle crash and walking away from the wreckage to catch a bus and go to work.

Going back to Jerami Grant, the 23-year-old has always been a solid rim protector in his career.

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In his second season with the Thunder, Grant is also averaging 7.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in 20.9 minutes per game. That’s not a lot of minutes but when he is on the floor, opponents are shooting 11.6 percent worse on shots taken less than six feet from the rim.

Jerami Grant is going to be a free agent at the end of this season, and teams looking to fortify their interior defense could certainly give the Syracuse product a look.