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Blake Griffin and the Value of the Highlight Reel
By David Moran/Special to LAist
The moment of the season has already occurred for the Clippers - but which moment it is, exactly, is unclear.
Is it Blake Griffin’s rocketing, ballistic November 20th dunk over (and on) the New York Knicks Timofey Mozgov, the cover page to his diverse and expanding portfolio of highlight plays?
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Or is it Griffin’s blocked dunk attempt, late in the fourth quarter against the hapless Cavaliers last Friday thanks to J.J. Hickson, that preceded an embarrassing end to the Cavs’ record-setting 26-game losing streak?
It’s been a thrill ride with Griffin and Co. so far, but the Clippers themselves are a middling 20-35, residing just a few steps up from the basement of the Western Conference.
This, so far, has been the underlying paradox of the Clippers’ season: with young players and an exciting style of play, they’ve accumulated a buzz and an audience that they haven’t had for years. But they’re still losing.
The drop to the pathetic Cavs was the largest and ugliest mark on a road trip filled with losses. Two more followed on Sunday and Monday, bringing the trip record down to 1-7 with three games to go. The Clippers are a disastrous 4-21 on the road, third worst in the league.
Sure, Griffin’s 133 dunks are the second-most in the NBA, and teammate DeAndre Jordan is right behind him in third with 110. Veteran Baron Davis is perfecting his alley-oop pass and “Dunks of the Night” features across the internet are littered with the Clips’ red-and-whites.
But is it worth it? Professional basketball loves and embraces spectacle - the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s ensured that flashy play would be rewarded with media attention. And sure enough, the Clippers have reemerged from the bowels of NBA irrelevancy largely because of Griffin’s highlight-friendly play.
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Maybe it has been worth it for the Clippers though, besides just media attention - Davis, for one, appears to have ditched some of the apathy that plagued his game previously. Attendance at home games is up 6% over last year. And they are a better team, already 2/3 of the way to last year’s win total and we’re not quite at the All-Star Break.
Unfortunately, the point of the sport is to win games and championships, and media attention doesn’t always factor into that. One of the most boring teams of the modern NBA, the San Antonio Spurs of the 2000s, has one three championships and are contending again this year. The Boston Celtics brutal-but-effective style is rarely fun to watch, but they, too, are back in the thick of the title chase.
Yes, winning is the only thing, and the Clippers are still 10.5 games out of the playoffs. They’ve gone 19-19 since their atrocious 1-13 start to the season, but in the end, Bill Parcells was right - you are what your record says you are. The Clippers are 20-35.
The undeniable talents of Blake Griffin and the rest of the young core have brought the team more attention, and with it, more pressure. Luckily, we have half of a season left to see how they will react to it, to see if they are able to cash in some of those highlights for victories.
Blake Griffin and the Clippers close the first half of the season on the road against fellow All-Star Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves at 5:00 p.m. on FS Prime Ticket and AM 980 KFWB.
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