Loving the lob?

First and foremost, I would like to greet belated happy birthday to Blake Griffin. Here’s my gift to the man that saved the Clippers franchise and to his avid supporters, a compilation not just all about your dunks, but, a chronological collection of your pyrotechnics that will surely be worth the watch.

Let’s not prolong the excitement to see my top ten version of ‘Blake Show’ and how he changed the basketball culture of a once feeble team. Be sure, as you scroll down, to buckle up and be ready to be on the edge of your seats.

Blake Austin Griffin, a college standout from the Oklahoma University Sooners decided to waive his two-year eligibility to play for college basketball and declared to be enlisted as a candidate for the 2009 NBA draft. Having the title of Player of the Year awarded by Sports Illustrated and FoxSports.com it’s no surprise that BG is among the favourites of that draft selection. He didn’t fail to impress the world even when the official 2009-2010 season has yet to start when he didn’t skip a beat in the pre-season games where he was awarded as the Summer League MVP. Sadly, the shades of Greg Oden was summoned when BG injured his knee cap after landing from a thunderous jam. Griffin’s season, as told by many, was over even before it begun making him underwent a surgery costing him the whole season.

 Let’s take a look at the clip:

Seriously, who injures himself after a dunk? That only proves that this man’s leaping ability is a world beyond ours. 

Since that is not recognized as an official game, that's the reason why it's not included in the list. Don't get too excited.

10.  After sitting out the whole 09-10’ season, the same season where the Lakers made it to the Finals and took home the covenant title, Blake Griffin is out there ready to shed off the dust.

For the first of so many, Griffin on his much anticipated NBA season debut against the Portland Trailblazers on their home floor scored his first bucket via alley-oop.... and the era has only just begun. 

What we didn't know is that after it, more and more alley-oops are coming. Surprising for a rookie who just had his first dose of the real season and coming from a season hiatus, Griffin tallied a double-double, 20 points and 14 rebounds respectively.

9. On the 27^th of January, 2011 Griffin stunned the sporting world by setting his personal career high in points when he bombarded the Indiana Pacers with 47 to go along with 14 rebounds. To set a career high is always expected for a number 1 draft pick, but for a rookie to do so, it’s wonderful. Griffin is the second player to have two 40+ point games during his rookie season, so, who was the first one? Guess who. My man, Allen Iverson during the 96-97 season. 

If you’re not lazy enough to finish the whole video and you already know Blake Griffin’s style of play even before reading this article for sure you would be more surprise to see that on a night to remember of BG, he only had one dunk. Nonetheless, this stellar performance is labelled an awestruck.

8. Listed by Sports Illustrated as one of the 15 greatest rookies of all time, Blake Griffin, with no surprise made it to the All-Star festivities on his first official season. Since he missed the entire 09-10 NBA season, Griffin is still considered as a rookie and being voted a rookie-allstar, BG shares a milestone of being a rookie-allstar with Shaq, Tim Duncan, and Yao Ming.  He participated in more than two events, to mention: rookies-sophomores challenge, slam dunk contest, and the All-Star game. Though his minutes were curbed on both rookies-sophomores challenge and the All-star game, it was the slam dunk contest where he took the spotlight and shined the most. 

From left to right: Griffin starting as center for the Rookie team, Griffin on a dunk attempt assisted by former team mate Baron Davis for the slam dunk contest, and Griffin posting up Pierce on the All-Star Weekend.

                            Take a look at Griffin's highlights on the 2011 all-star weekend.

       Well, it’s good to hear that Griffin went home victorious on all competitions he attended. 

7. Thus far, Griffin has three triple doubles on his resume. Two coming from his rookie season and again, the first one is the most magnificent.  On a game against the Washington Wizards dated March 23, 2011, Griffin scored 33 points while grabbing 17 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists to walk away with a ‘W.’

Later in that season, Griffin had another triple- double against Memphis Grizzlies with 31 points, 10 boards and 10 dimes. It’s amazing to note that after a season ending injury Blake Griffin manages to play all 82 games of the 2010-2011 season, credits to Francisco Matrisciano who he worked out with during his should-be first regular season.

Griffin then won the ROY (Rookie of the Year) award with a unanimous vote from sportswriters and basketball personalities when he led all rookies in points, rebounds, and double-doubles. He shares the same title with David Robinson for claiming unanimous nods. Griffin was also unanimously selected for the All-Rookie first team.

Now, from here on you’ll get to see significant close encounters with Blake that sparked a craze in a viral manner. Most of it probably you have already seen before but let’s take another look at Blake Show’s mid-air highlights.

6. After signing a contract extension for the Los Angeles Clippers with a reported 95 million US dollars for another 5 exciting years and then signing New Orleans Hornets All-Star guard and Olympic Medallist Chris Paul, the lone bright spot for the miserable Clippers now has a sidekick that could draw plays fit for him. CP3 known for his adeptness in Pick-n-rolls and possessing a vigilant vision on the floor, Griffin just found the best partner for him as they mould their way to revive the Showtime Lakers in a more highflying edition called Lob City.

On the 4^th of April 2012, glad I saw it in action. Prior to this, many have already fallen to the hands of the Lob city. Whether they’re taking a nap on fast break or just simply being so unfortunate for being posterized by Griffin. Pau Gasol, the 7 foot Spaniard had, not just one but two, daily dose of the Blake Show. Take a look:

                                    Oh my god! The look on Gasol’s face is just epic. LOL!

“Blake Griffin explodes on Gasol,” the commentator exclaimed. Explosion might be an understatement but try to pause the video at 0:26-0:28 and you’d see Andrew Bynum’s sarcastic smile tells it all.

Poor Gasol.

5. On the 10^th of November 2012, the day Griffin headlined Sporstcenter again. A spin and slam against Italian forward Danilo Gallinari and a Dwight Howard like dunk over the Russian Timofey Muzgov.

 Gallo made himself wished that he’d rather be posing for Armani than being part of one of Griffin’s poster on this. 

                                 Even Amar’e himself gives him a nod for a dunk unlike any other.

4. Okay, this one’s more resounding than those presented above. Oh my bad, forgot that is Blake Griffin’s highlight reel. Forgot that the each play he does is expected to be more spectacular than the last. He’s done with the taller but softer Gasol and on the 30^th of January last year he decided to test someone though smaller but incredibly way tougher than Gasol, Kendrick Perkins. This happened when Perk tried to help over a defensive breakdown but was late on a rotation and then he got viciously dunked over by BG. Griffin who was born and raised on Oklahoma city and played his amateur hoops on the same city probably showed the people from Oklahoma what they’ve been used to see.

Good thing Sports Science is here to explain to us that horrifying dunk with the help of Physics.

“It happens ... If you’re a shot blocker, you’re going to get dunked on. It was a great play that he made. Obviously I wish I wasn’t in it, but it was a great play that he made,” explains Kendrick Perkins who has been the talk in corners of the globe for almost two months. “I wish I wasn’t in it?” I agree with you Perk! (Laughing boisterously)

  “It’s the timing of the play, it’s the timing of when I got the pass, and also the late rotation,” Griffin said. “If all that comes together at the right time, then those things happen. It’s not like I caught the ball and thought ‘okay, let’s go make something happen.’ It just came together.”

Gasol weighs 250 pounds while Perkins that he just dunked over, weighs 20 lbs heavier. Griffin is 251 lbs and to have a mid-air collision with Perkins’ monstrous body and still finishing it with style is absolutely nuts.

Did you know that out of dismay because of the fact that he got dunked on by Griffin and a 10 second action got 2 million views in youtube in less than a week Perkins breaks his silence and hits on a fellow NBA player for getting involved in the social media talk about that incident? I don’t know why he chose to retaliate on just one in particular despite the fact that many were tweeting about it. And the not so lucky player is, Lebron James. It was when Lebron tweeted on his tweeter account this:

 “Dunk of the Year! @blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard!!! Wow! I guess I’m No. 2 now. Move over #6.” James was referring to his alley-oop dunk he threw down after jumping over Chicago Bulls guard John Lucas III a day earlier.

The irked big man then responded with:

“You don’t see Kobe [Bryant] tweeting “You don’t see Michael Jordan tweeting. If you’re an elite player, plays like that don’t excite you. At the end of the day, the guys who are playing for the right reasons who are trying to win championships are not worrying about one play. They are also not tweeting about themselves talking about going down to No. 2. I just feel [James] is always looking for attention and he wants the world to like him,” tells the furious Perkins. 

3. First playoff appearance. After escaping a crucible against the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round, they were bound to face the San Antonio Spurs on the second round. Though Griffin played a well rounded game, the Spurs swept the series leaving the young Griffin’s promising season done and dusted. Despite a heart-breaking loss, his stats were great for a considered sophomore in the league.

Credits to NBA.com

2. Bleals (block and steal) DWill. It is not surprising for a man who jumps so high not to block shots as exciting as the way he does it when he dunks. Earlier this season, on a road game, Brooklyn Nets guard Deron Williams attempts to stuff the ball to the rim. We rarely see DWill driving down the rack and more so, seeing him dunking it on the ring. Well, BG decides to convince him not to do it rarely but doing it never. After he blows past Chris Paul, he attempts to dunk it and fails. Sorry my friend Kyle Juztine and my club mate on 5am ballers club, Jose Rey, for this.

1. “Who says basketball and circus can’t co-exist?” That’s what I said when I saw the highlight on NBA.com and shared it on my twitter account immediately. This is Blake Show’s latest display of magic as of this writing. Some would say, it’s not about the dunk but how the pass was done, for me the whole sequence made by a mixture of presence of mind and brute force makes it a top contender for this season’s top plays.

You know what’s good about Blake Griffin and his dunks? The fact that every dunk he makes, he donates 100 US dollars to a charity called Dunking for Dollars. His benevolence has helped cancer patients and people fighting for obesity. Heart pounding isn’t it? Isn’t it beautiful to have a win-win situation for both basketball thrill seekers and charities for every dunk Griffin makes? So next time, if you’re worried that you’re favourite big man or your team might be dunked on by Griffin, just think of the kids and patients he could help for every dunk he throws. Not kidding.

Griffin with his skills on his position on the floor truly is remarkable and I can’t help but compare him to those who have come before. Shawn Kemp of the Seattle Supersonics, an NBA all-star and Olympic medallist, Amar’e Stoudamire and Kenyon Martin, who now both play for the New York Knicks. If you’ve seen then on their prime, Blake Griffin’s style play isn’t far identical. No matter how they try to learn to add more arsenal on their game, the open court is where they thrive better; cutting down the lane, running up and down, dunk after dunk, and making a living in the paint. I hope the basketball gods won’t allow the same fate to Griffin, I mean just being an icon to remember and not a champion. Not just slam dunk champion, not just a highlight factory, or just an all-star showcase but an NBA champion. Sad to say, the style of basketball Blake plays hasn’t found a ring in the league. Kenyon Martin boldly told slamonline.com that the Clippers style of basketball isn’t conducive for playoff type of games. “You can’t do it in the playoffs, so it don’t matter,” he said. “In the regular season it’s all up and down, man. We know the way the game goes in the regular season.” I do agree with K-Mart on that, however, things are way too early to judge what Blake Griffin could achieve especially if his knees could go much further.