Four days after exchanging words laced with obscenities toward a courtside fan, Lakers guard Steve Blake met with the family and his father at the team’s practice facility Tuesday to apologize.
“It was an unfortunate misunderstanding and heat of the moment,” Blake said. “It’s one of those things I’m not proud of with the way I handled it. I look forward to growing as a person. We had a chance to speak and talk about the situation and let him know I was sorry for the way I acted. I didn’t handle myself the way I want to, but we were able to talk and hopefully build a relationship off of that.”
Blake’s meeting with the fan and his father after practice Tuesday corresponded with the NBA issuing the Lakers guard a $25,000 fine. In a statement, executive vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson described Blake’s actions as “directing inappropriate language toward a fan” in the waning seconds of the Lakers’ loss Friday to the Clippers at Staples Center. Said Blake: “”I’m not happy with it, but I understand they have to do what they have to do.”
Blake sounded more upset with himself.
Blake was seen on the Lakers’ telecast speaking to the fan while Clippers guard Chris Paul shot free-throws with 40.3 seconds remaining. After fouling out of the game with 29.2 seconds left, Blake then appeared to utter obscenities to the fan. Blake continued as he walked toward the fan before play resumed.
The NBA indicated it fined Blake for the specific incident with 29.2 seconds remaining. Blake’s outburst stemmed from the fan critiquing the Lakers’ guard on-court play, the Daily News learned. Meanwhile, the Lakers were moments away from going 0-3 for the first time since the 1978-79 season.
“No excuses, but it was a a spur of the moment bad decision,” Blake said. “I’m feisty and can get into it on the court, but I never took it anywhere else. That’s not what I wanted to be known for. They’re great people and they didn’t deserve to have that type of interaction with the player.”
After the meeting, Blake said “we went out on good terms.”
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