Credit: Aaron Gash / Associated Press

Why Blake Griffin Has A Love-Hate Relationship With Dunking

With Chris Paul out of town, it definitely has become the Blake Show in Clippers County. The 6’10” power forward has added some variety to his game.

Through the first 10 games of the season Griffin is averaging 5.2 three point attempts per game. That’s more than LeBron James is averaging. He’s also shooting them well, making over 40% from deep. Both stats are career highs for Blake, who not least adapted his game, due to only being know a dunker in early stages of his career. But not only is he shooting more from outside the line, Griffin also gets his teammates involved and averages 4.5 assists per game, a great number for a big man.

But his insane dunking abilty still haunts Blake, which is the reason why he has had a love-hate relationship when it comes to dunking.

 

“I wanted to be a complete player, and I felt like the dunks started to overshadow other parts of my game. I felt like that’s all that was being showcased. That’s why I shied away from it a little over the years. I kind of had a love-hate with it.”Sports Illustrated:

The 5-time All-Star also talked about one of his most famous dunks. In the 2011 NBA Dunk Contest, Blake was crowned the winner after he jumped over a car while catching an alley-oop. His original plan to jump over a convertible was messed up by the league, who wanted him to jump over a car of the league sponsor.

“My plan for the dunk contest was to jump over a convertible with four teammates inside. The NBA kind of messed up that plan. They wanted me to jump over a Kia, because it’s a league sponsor, but the Optima is a huge car. I could only do the hood, so it didn’t look as cool.”