The first boos DeAndre Jordan heard Wednesday came from a familiar voice.
Longtime Clippers broadcaster Ralph Lawler booed Jordan as the Clippers center boarded the team bus on the way to the American Airlines Center. Lawler was kidding, of course, his way of preparing Jordan for the onslaught of fan vitriol Jordan was sure to hear a few hours later in his first game against the team he famously spurned in free agency.
“Thank God he laughed,” Lawler said later.
The Clippers did not hold a customary shootaround before their game against the Dallas Mavericks, though Coach Doc Rivers contended it was solely because his team was playing the first game of a back-to-back situation with a two-hour time change, not to protect Jordan from prying media.