Biebs, Gronk and the Pats, oh my! Stars collide in Clippers locker room
The latest sign that the Clippers have replaced the Lakers as Tinseltown's "It" basketball franchise came Monday night — and it's going to be hard for Kobe & Co. to ever top this one.
Following their convincing 127-101 victory over Minnesota at Staples Center, the Clippers were joined in the locker room by Rob Gronkowski and several of his Patriots teammates, in Southern California as they prepare for Sunday night's game in San Diego.
Then Justin Bieber showed up.
Yup . . . Bieber and Gronk.
Bieber, wearing a Clippers No. 6 DeAndre Jordan jersey, made the rounds and sat in a chair for a chat with Blake Griffin. Then he talked to Chris Paul. Then he slapped Jordan on the back and took a photo with him.
Are you a Belieber? @justinbieber in @LAClippers locker room. Star power tonight pic.twitter.com/NT9A5zz9po
— Jill Painter Lopez (@jillpainter) December 2, 2014
And yeah, the Biebs chatted up the Patriots' All-Pro tight end and his teammates, as well. The Patriots players were all smiles, so we're guessing the subject of that heartbreaking loss to Green Bay a day earlier didn't come up in conversation.
Doc Rivers is no stranger to football either, but he's a Chicago Bears fan. Nonetheless, the Clippers coach invited the Patriots into the locker room — joking that most Clippers players are Cowboys fans and he just wanted to show his players what a real team looks like.
What star power -- and to think, this was just an early regular season game against a four-win team.
Take that, Jack.
Bieber tweeted a picture -- to his 57.3 million followers -- during the game with a picture-in-picture of the Clippers spirit team from what looked like a seat in a suite. Talk about a publicity boost for the dancers.
Then he tweeted a picture with Jordan in the locker room after he left. Jordan will probably have a big boost of Beliebers following him on Twitter now, too.
After a two-week road trip, the Clippers were anxious to treat their fans to a dominant showing. Turns out it was so dominant (the Clippers led by 15 at the half and went on a 23-3 run in the third) that most fans were gone by the time the final horn sounded.
But not Gronk, who sported a Griffin jersey in the locker room which he said he would rock all the time and stayed with his teammates and Bieber after the game in a locker with star power that used to be reserved for that "other" LA team.
