If you end up a playoff scapegoat, be prepared to be the whipping boy on social media, as sad as it is.
Lakers guard Steve Blake missed a wide open three-pointer that would have given his club the lead in the closing seconds of Game 2 at Oklahoma City, and that didn't sit well with nitwits on Twitter.
"Fans" upset by the Lakers' defeat took out their rage on Blake and his family on the popular micro-blogging website. Kristen Blake said she had to block over 500 users who were sending nasty comments and even death threats at her and her family.
One Twitter user, @JAMESALLONYOU tweeted to Blake "I hope your family gets murdered..." along with other obscenities and derogatory comments. Kristen Blake retweeted the threat with the response "Wow." To see the full tweet (warning: it's EXTREMELY offensive), click here.
"It's pretty disappointing that there's a lot of hateful people out there," Blake explained to the Los Angeles Times. "You move on. I just don't appreciate it when it's toward my family. You can come at me all you want. But when you say things about my wife and my kids, it makes me upset."
By the way, earlier in the postseason against the Nuggets, Blake scored a playoff career-high 19 points, becoming the first Laker since legend Michael Cooper in 1987 to record 19+ points and 5+ 3-pointers off the bench in a playoff game.
Although his wife was obviously disturbed by the keyboard courage of knuckleheads on social media, the Lakers' backup guard said Kristen had to divulge the disgusting dialogue.
"I didn't see it," Blake said. "She (his wife Kristen) told me about it. That's why I don't look at that crap. I just let it be."
-- Follow Ben Maller on Twitter @BenMaller.
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