Rarely is a name synonymous with an era. Blake Griffin and his “Lob City” Clippers were an exception, a cultural phenomenon that captivated crowds. The former All-Star and dunk champion has now drawn a line under his career – unfinished, but grateful.
He was the king of NBA spectacle. The “Sportscenter” show on ESPN mutated into an incessant Blake Griffin highlight mixtape, his breathtaking dunks played on a loop around the world. Thanks to him, not only was the legendary “Lob City” born, thanks to him the Los Angeles Clippers made it from decades of stair jokes to respectability and sporting success (in the regular season), for the first time ever.
Countless moments come to mind whenever his name is mentioned: Alley-Oop Galas with CP3. Dunking over a car during All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles. Air Jordan commercials. “The Blake face” when Chris Paul’s son aped him in a press conference. Iconic posters against Kendrick Perkins, Pau Gasol or Serge Ibaka.
His personality, humor and self-deprecating manner cemented him as a crowd favorite, regardless of his ring-bending, gravity-defying aerial moves that turned fans, media people and teammates into howling admirers. Now Blake Griffin has ended his active basketball career. After 14 years, six All-Star nominations and countless ups and downs, the former Slam Dunk Champion is drawing the line under an eventful professional career.
Model athlete for Hollywood
Griffin’s steep rise began in the desert of Oklahoma, where the model athlete was already a basketball, football and baseball star at school age. At the University of Oklahoma, he became the unanimous player of the year as a sophomore – and the most sought-after draft prospect in the country. The LA Clippers won his draft rights and selected him first overall in 2009. The Clippers were the league’s running joke at the time, having only reached the postseason four times and won a single playoff series during their 25 years in Los Angeles. Griffin missed the entire 2009/10 season with a knee injury, but took over the league from 2010/11. And how!
With 22.5 points, 12.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, the high flyer had one of the most dominant debut seasons of all time and was unanimously voted rookie of the year – the first rookie since David Robinson (1989-90). Fans and experts were blown away, coaches immediately put him on the Western Conference All-Star team – the first rookie since Tim Duncan in 1998. At the All-Star weekend in Los Angeles, he won the slam dunk contest when he flew over a car parked under the basket.
Chris Paul (left) and Blake Griffin turned the Clippers from a failure to a model team.
(Foto: imago images/ZUMA Wire)
The arrival of All-NBA point guard Chris Paul the following summer changed everything for this chronically unsuccessful club: The Clips won more than 60 percent of their games six times in a row, reached the playoffs six times in a row and established themselves as one of the best teams the NBA. Chronic bad luck with injuries prevented the ultimate breakthrough in the playoffs, but “Lob City” was born – a now legendary synonym for the free-flowing, playful and attractive basketball of this team, which finished above ring level more often than any other and the NBA diaspora evening pulled out of the armchair for the evening.
At the same time, Griffin, CP3 & Co. made the Clippers cool and hip. Finally, this team was no longer a laughingstock, but a second, respectable destination in the City of Angels, where the Lakers have always set the tone. Along the way, a healthy, fiery rivalry developed between the two roommates at Staples Center that continues to this day.
Die Donald-Sterling-Saga
But what followed was one of the biggest scandals of all time in US professional sports: In 2014, tape recordings emerged of then-Clippers boss Donald Sterling, who wanted to forbid his lover from bringing “black men to my games” (original sound). . A team owner in the National Basketball Association, already notorious for his controversial, anti-social and stingy manner, who made openly racist comments – that went beyond the scope.
Griffin’s dunk over Kendrick Perkins is legendary.
(Foto: picture alliance / ZUMAPRESS.com)
Sterling had been a thorn in the league’s side not only because of his persistent incompetence in 33 years as owner. Attendance at Clippers home games has always been the lowest. The club saved money wherever it could. Sterling’s name has appeared in numerous anti-discrimination lawsuits, both in his personal dealings and by former team employees such as Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor. Sterling called black tenants in his public housing “stinkers who attract vermin”; He is said to have given his former general manager Baylor the directive to put together a “very special team” that consisted exclusively of “poor, black youngsters from the South, coached by a white man.” His plantation owner mentality and lecherous nature was also evident in the locker room and at his numerous parties, where he paraded his players while openly bragging about their bodies and sexual assets.
When the audio was leaked, the Clippers were in the middle of their playoff series against Golden State. Most team sponsors terminated their commitments to the club within 48 hours, and coach Doc Rivers tendered his resignation if Sterling remained team owner. Led by Griffin, the players staged a public protest when they demonstratively turned their Clippers tracksuits inside out and tossed them into a pile at center court before Game Four against the Warriors. The public took notice, even US President Barack Obama spoke out. New commissioner Adam Silver suspended Sterling for life and forced him to sell the franchise.
Career evening and legacy
Former Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer, one of the richest people in the world, bought the Clippers a few weeks later for $2 billion – at the time the highest price ever paid for an NBA club. By then, Griffin had long since turned it into a destination. Stars like Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and James Harden would come on board not much later and help continue the success story. “We were the old Clippers,” Griffin once said. “We were a laughingstock in the eyes of the public. They all laughed at us.” The Bolide and the Lob City Clippers changed that narrative forever. Since Griffin’s professional debut, only one team has won more regular season games (Golden State), and only three have played more playoff games since 2012.
His presence continues to have an impact – even if the big success never came. Like many superstars before him, Griffin never managed to win the NBA title. When the Clippers traded him to Detroit in January 2018, years of injury problems had long since robbed him of his explosiveness and incomparable jumping ability. He radically changed his game, developed a reasonably reliable three-point shot almost overnight and matured into one of the most complete stars in the league. In 2018/19 he led the completely overwhelmed Pistons largely single-handedly into the playoffs and managed to return to the All-Star and All-NBA teams after four years. It would remain his last high water mark. Final stints as a role player in Brooklyn and Boston signaled the slow fade-out of a distinguished career.
Whether Blake Griffin is a sure Hall of Famer is something experts and gatekeepers will argue about for years to come. However, his legacy in NBA history cannot be disputed. Both as one of the best and most feared dunkers of all time, alongside legends like Michael Jordan, Vince Carter, Dominique Wilkins, Shawn Kemp and Julius Erving. As well as in terms of sports culture. He changed the public perception of the LA Clippers and was one of the protagonists during the Sterling saga, which also symbolized a turnaround in the way the league deals with problematic team owners (Suns owner Robert Sarver was forced to leave the club in 2022 also sell after racist and sexist statements).
Griffin has always been more than thunderous dunks and elite stats. He represented the emotional and human aspects of basketball. He accepted the highs and successes just as stoically as the many injuries and setbacks, as well as the constant failure to achieve the ultimate goal of mastery. In the end, despite all the pains, what prevails for him is “deep gratitude for everything, the victories and awards, the hardships and lessons.” Griffin finished his career averaging 19.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game.
2024-04-30 06:15:00
#Blake #Griffin #ends #career #thunderous #dunk #machine #switches
