Blake Griffin is a beast. This isn’t a newsflash, anyone who has watched Sportscenter for more than five minutes over the past three months could have figured that out for themselves. But his last two games have sent his stock skyrocketing even higher, if that’s possible.
Take Sunday’s game against the defending champion Lakers for instance. Griffin scored only 2 points in the first half, but finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds. But the most important part of that game had little to do with his final stat line. With 5.7 seconds remaining and teammate Randy Foye shooting free throws, the rookie was fighting for rebounding position when Lamar Odom grabbed him by his jersey and attempted to throw him into the basket support. Minor dustups are nothing new in the NBA, but it was Odom’s reasoning that caused me to raise an eyebrow:
“…I just feel like if you’re up 9, a ram in the back at that point. Any other time, I get it. You play hard, you’re strong, whatever, but the ram in the back (while) up 9? I don’t get it…”
I don’t get it either. A rookie playing as hard as he can from start to finish is so enraging that he needed to confront the situation with an attempt at intimidation? Either there’s some unspoken rule about taking the last few seconds of the game off, or Odom was a victim of his own frustration since the Lakers (along with everyone else in the league) couldn’t find an answer for the high-octane rookie. Even more impressive was Griffin’s reaction to the whole melee. As Odom jumped in his face, the rookie shrugged his shoulders and attempted to walk away before teammate Baron Davis and resident NBA crazy person Ron Artest jumped into the fracas, resulting in ejections for all four players. Griffin had this to say after the game:
“Whatever happened, I didn’t say anything, I didn’t take a swing at anybody, I didn’t push anybody. When Baron came in, I grabbed him. … There’s never a situation where I’m not going to go to the glass. I would think of all people, (Odom) would know that.”
As someone who has played and followed basketball for a number of years, I know that more than size and positioning, rebounding is about attitude. And any player that says he’s always going to crash the boards, regardless of score or time left has the attitude that any coach at any level would love to see in his team.
For Griffin’s encore? The next night against the Pacers the rookie poured in 47 points to set the high scoring mark for any player this season. The most amazing thing about those 47 points is that he didn’t use a bunch of breakaways or lob dunks to score them. With a dizzying array of spin moves, drop steps and pull-up and fadeaway jumpers, Griffin showcased all of his talents. This guy’s skill set is unreal. He’s got the explosiveness of Shawn Kemp (along with Kemp’s ability to jump through any roof) along with the strength of Karl Malone. Combine that with the Jordan-esque mentality of not taking any days or even seconds off, and what do you have? A phenom having one of the best rookie seasons ever averaging 22 points and almost 13 rebounds per game. A player who’s reignited the “rivalry” between the two L.A. teams. A guy who’s make this hapless franchise relevant again. Despite their losing record, the Clips have established themselves as one of the most exciting teams in the league and besides their victory over the Lakers, they’ve beat some of the top teams in the league including Miami, San Antonio and Chicago.
The scary part about all of this is that we’re talking about a guy who’s 40 games into his first full season after missing all of last year with a knee injury. And the fact that he’s only 21 years old.
Man, I can’t wait for the next encore.
