Blake Griffin backs up LeBron James’ decision to leave Cleveland

LeBron James expressed his newfound admiration for Blake Griffin’s power on the night of Thanksgiving, going the social media route by using his twitter account.

Griffin, the kid and rookie power forward, returned the favor by traveling the charming old-school route Tuesday after the Clippers practice, defending James and his decision to leave Cleveland for Miami.

You can tell when Griffin has done a lot of thinking about a person or an issue. And much of that emerged when Griffin talked about Wednesday night’s Clippers-Heat game at Staples Center.

“I think I said it’s crazy that somebody, people can be so upset over where a human being decides where he wants to play basketball,” Griffin said. “I thought it was crazy.”

That was the verbal version of a few warm-up shots from Griffin.

Later, it was noted that James had been in Cleveland for seven years before leaving for Miami, bringing forth an interesting analogy from Griffin.

“It’s like somebody giving you money and taking care of you, giving you a home and then after seven years, ‘You’re like OK, you’re on your own now.’ And you being like, ‘What? You’re going to leave me?’

“They should be thankful for having him for seven years. And they shouldn’t look at it like from a standpoint of … a standpoint of betrayal.

(Clippers fans, obviously, were hoping owner Donald Sterling heard these words loud and clear from Griffin.)

Of immediate concern for Griffin and the Clippers will be dealing with the Heat, which has won 13 consecutive games on the road.

The Heat’s Chris Bosh will be first up trying to contain Griffin.

“He’s a bull,” Bosh told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “[Griffin] just goes in there and he’s trying to go to the rim every time.”

Said the Clippers’ Baron Davis: “It’s going to be a crazy environment. What better game to have tomorrow than to play against Miami. It’s going to be a big game. It’s not going to be the Lakers against Miami, the whole Christmas experience.

“But we’re going to come out. We’re going to have some fun, play them as hard as we possibly can and hit them with our best shot.”

Certainly, the Heat will be looking at the Clippers of recent weeks, not the woeful Clippers of November and early December. The Clippers have won seven of their last 10 games and center DeAndre Jordan has suddenly turned into a consistent shot-blocking force.

As Davis noted, saying, “Three weeks ago, everybody was down on us and everybody was getting traded.”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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