Brown Bag it, Baby
Blake Griffin’s second quarter dunk on Kris Humphries in Monday’s Clippers-Nets game is what we call a sports win.
Griffin, the NBA’s favorite dunker, hammered one home on Kris Humphries, the NBA’s least favorite player. It really doesn’t get any better than that.
As Ball Don’t Lie says, this is definitely the internet’s favorite dunk.
When he first learned the Clippers acquired Chris Paul in a trade, Blake Griffin was so excited he said it was going to be “lob city.” The phrase caught on and became the team’s nickname. Now Chris Paul and Blake Griffin have grown sick of the name, believing that it overshadows everything else about the team.
“[The nickname is] unfortunate,” Griffin told ESPN LA’s Arash Markazi. “It’s one of those things where we understand it, but that’s not what we’re about. Before the game we’re not going out thinking, ‘All right, its Lob City tonight.’ We’re just trying to win games and trying to get better.
“If anybody says it in [the locker room], it’s just a joke, making fun of the whole thing,” Griffin said. “It’s not on our minds at all.”
“It’s something we can’t control,” Paul said. “We are a complete team, and we want to continue to be a complete team. That’s the only way we’re going to win games. It doesn’t matter if you get 10 lobs and lose the game. It’s all about winning at the end of the day.”
This is actually the problem Blake Griffin is facing. He has such a strong reputation for being a ferocious dunker, it overshadows every other aspect of his game. The best way for the Clippers to prove they’re more than just a highlight show is by winning. If they win, fans and critics will see they’re a complete team and not just a flashy aerial attack.
When Blake Griffin learned that Chris Paul was being traded to the Clippers, the first words out of his mouth were “lob city!” Griffin knew that CP3 is one of the best passers in the game, and that his alley-oops to Tyson Chandler were legendary. Paul had some nice alley-oops to DeAndre Jordan in the team’s first preseason game Monday night, but we didn’t see the Chris-to-Blake show until Wednesday. Here’s a look at what you’ll be seeing the rest of the way:
Lob city baby. Thanks to @Jose3030 for cutting the video.
The Clippers are recognized as one of the biggest jokes of a franchise in sports. They’ve only had four playoff seasons since moving to LA, and that’s in a league where 16 of 30 teams make the postseason. Their draft picks often are busts, and the ones that aren’t get injured. Blake Griffin even suffered from the curse when he hurt his knee and missed his rookie season. He’s well aware of the franchise’s reputation, but he says the Chris Paul trade changes that.
“The only thing I’m going to promise is that you’re going to get our best every night,” Griffin said from practice Thursday. “When you hear the Clippers, it’s not going to be a joke anymore. I can guarantee that.”
The Clippers have only had two winning seasons since moving to LA. Two. That’s a big guarantee for Griffin to make, but with the roster they have put together, it would be a disappointment if they didn’t reach the postseason the next two years. If they achieve success, the question is whether they can sustain it.
The Clippers pulled off what could be a franchise-changing trade Wednesday when they dealt three players and a pick to the Hornets for Chris Paul. FOX Sports West had a camera around when some of the players learned of the deal, and let’s just say they were pretty ecstatic. Center DeAndre Jordan received a phone call while the team was visiting the Los Angeles Air Force Base, and Blake Griffin kept leaning over to hear the news.
Here is the video that Eric Gordon doesn’t want to see:
Two words: Lob City.
Clippers center Chris Kaman seems to have spent a good part of the lockout in his native Michigan. Now that the lockout appears to have ended, Kaman is taking a road trip to LA for the season. While passing through the midwest, Kaman has been sending some tweets, such as this one:
“Passing through OK City, who would want to live here?”
Kaman was likely trying to upset teammate Blake Griffin, who’s from Oklahoma. Naturally, Griffin zinged him back.
“Me, Chris. Don’t you still live with your parents?”
If Kaman did spend the lockout with his parents, that wouldn’t make him the first NBA player to do so. Either way, he responded with some self-deprecating humor.
“Not anymore, duh lock out is over!”
Kaman later said that he was just joking with Griffin, but I’m sure there are plenty of Oklahomans who don’t find it funny. After all, we’ve seen how some of them take a joke. Maybe Kaman will have to offer some venison to Griffin as a truce.
Chest bump to That NBA Lottery Pick
On Tuesday LBS writer Shane showed pictures of Blake Griffin dressed up in a Mars Blackmon type outfit for a recent Nike photoshoot. Well now we have a video that shows what the outfit was all about.
Griffin departed from his typically serious demeanor to joke around in a video where he portrays the character “Mars Blake Man.” In the video, Griffin hypes us his friend Jordan Cameron who is a tight end entering the NFL draft:
Cameron played both basketball and football at Newbury Park High School and actually went to BYU initially to play basketball. He went to a JC after that, then tried to play for USC’s basketball team before ultimately deciding his future lied with USC’s football team.
Cameron only had 16 catches for 126 yards and a touchdown in his career with the Trojans so that’s why he needs all the hype he can get. Oh yeah, and you might also recall Jordan is the brother of Brynn Cameron, the former USC women’s basketball player well known for being the mother of Matt Leinart’s son.
