Nominations for dunk of the year are now closed. (See video above).
Well, check that.
With Blake Griffin, you never know when the next mind-blower might be in his wheelhouse.
Griffin turned Kendrick Perkins into Timofey Mozgov 2.0 with an astoundingly athletic slam Monday night during the Los Angeles Clippers’ 112-100 rout of Oklahoma City, just the Thunder’s fourth loss of the season.
“I’m going to go home and watch it again. It’s probably going to be the screensaver on my phone,” said Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, who grabbed Griffin in a bear hug after the monstrous slam over Oklahoma City’s 6-foot-11 center.
Doesn’t get much more praiseworthy than that, eh?
Griffin had 22 points to go with Chris Paul’s 26 points and 14 assists in a victory that snapped the Thunder’s four-game winning streak in a matchup of division leaders. Paul had 26 points and 14 assists, Caron Butler also had 22 points, Chauncey Billups scored 13 and Mo Williams 12 as the Pacific-leading Clippers won their third in a row to follow up a 109-105 victory at Denver a night earlier that began a stretch of five games in seven nights.
From Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times: “Griffin threw the ball down with his right hand with force, his left hand on Perkins’ shoulder. Then he made the free throw to complete the three-point play. The play was shown over and over on the video screen, helping keep the fans in a frenzy. For many fans, it was no doubt similar to the dunk Griffin threw down on Timofey Mozgoz (sic) when he played for the New York Knicks. By the way, Griffin’s play gave the Clippers a stunning 73-51 lead that seemed to stagger the Thunder, which fell to 16-4, still the league’s best record. “Like I said, it’s the timing of the play. It’s the timing of when I got the pass, the late rotation, all that,” Griffin said of his dunk. “If all that comes together at the right time, it happens. It’s not like I caught the ball and said, ‘OK, let’s go make something happen.’ It just kind of came together like that.”
The rest of the night around the NBA was somewhat predictable, the Heat and Bulls coming of their epic clash Sunday with convincing victories, the Jazz and Bucks winning again at home, the Mavericks destroying the Suns as Steve Nash sat out with a bruised thigh, and the Orlando Magic sinking lower and lower by scoring just 69 points in a five-point loss at Philadelphia as the Sixers began a test week of home games that includes visits from the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls.
Orlando has dropped four in a row and six of eight after starting the season 10-3.
The Sixers shot 38 percent from the floor, 27 percent from 3-point range and 53 percent from the foul line in posting their lowest point total of the season.
Does this speed up the timetable on a possible Dwight Howard trade? Unless Magic general manager Otis Smith is bluffing, it doesn’t.
From Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Smith indicated Monday that he has no plans to make a major move to alter his team’s roster in the near future. “If a string of losses causes you to change your plans, then I’m in the wrong job,” Smith said Monday night, before the Magic fell 74-69 to the Philadelphia 76ers to lose their fourth consecutive game. “I think you look at your team as a whole and understand that we have to fight through whatever we have to fight through and you continue to evaluate everything top to bottom. That’s what you do. When it’s time to make a change, you make a change.” Smith generally does not like to make trades in-season, but he did so last season after the Magic lost five of six games from Dec. 4-14, 2010. On Dec. 18, he completed two major moves. The Magic acquired Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu and Earl Clark from the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat, Mickael Pietrus, a 2012 first-round pick and cash. In a separate deal, the Magic obtained Gilbert Arenas from the Washington Wizards for Rashard Lewis. This season, Smith would be hamstrung if he wanted to make a move now. Players who were signed as free agents prior to the season — a list that includes Richardson, Clark and Glen Davis — cannot be traded before March 1. Smith said he is inclined to put the Magic’s recent struggles into context. On Monday, the Magic played their 10th game in 15 nights and played without their regular starting backcourt of Jameer Nelson and Jason Richardson, who are injured. “No matter what the issue is, losing concerns me,” Smith said. “So you have a combination of things. You have a combination of injuries. You’ve got tired bodies. You’ve got good teams [you are facing]. The schedule’s not very conducive to playing very good basketball right now. But we’ve got to fight through it.”
Some noteworthy items from the rest of last night’s games:
- Michael Beasley scored 34 points, Ricky Rubio had 18 points and 11 assists and the Timberwolves beat the Rockets 120-108 in Rick Adelman’s return to Houston. Kevin Love had 29 points for the Timberwolves, who blew open a close game with a franchise-record 42 points in the third quarter. Beasley, in his third game back after missing 11 games with a sprained right foot, went 10 for 14 from the field and 12 for 12 from the free-throw line. Minnesota shot a season-best 58 percent (43 of 74) and eclipsed its previous high point total by 14.
- Derrick Rose scored a season-high 35 points to lead the Bulls to a 98-88 win over Washington. It came a day after the reigning league MVP missed two key free throws and a possible game-tying jumper in the final 30 seconds of a four-point loss at Miami. Rose scored 13 points in the first quarter and 15 in the third as the Bulls led by as many as 22 and improved their Eastern Conference-leading record to 18-5.
- Matt Bonner scored 15 points, going 5 of 9 from outside the arc, and Tim Duncan added 14 points as San Antonio sent Memphis to its fourth straight loss. Rudy Gay and Marc Gasol, the Grizzlies’ two leading scorers, were a combined 3 of 18 from the field. Gay finished with one point, missing all seven of his shots. He had not gone without a field goal in a game since April 16, 2007, also against the Spurs, in his rookie season.
- Dwyane Wade and LeBron James each scored 22 points and the Heat rode 54-23 from the midpoint of the second quarter through the end of the third for their eighth win in nine games. The Hornets finished with only 25 rebounds, the lowest total in the NBA this season.
- The Jazz trailed 79-74 before going on a 13-0 run. Paul Millsap had four points in the spurt, and reserves Earl Clark, Jeremy Evans and C.J. Miles made big plays. The loss was the eighth in 11 road games for the Blazers, who also lost Nicolas Batum to an injury late in the game. He had to be helped off the court and is expected to have an MRI on his left knee Tuesday.
- A strained right calf sidelined Dallas point guard Jason Kidd for the second night in a row, but the Mavericks had a season-high in points for a half (66) and for a game. Delonte West scored a season-high 25 on 9-of-12 shooting, including 5 of 6 3-pointers. Vince Carter scored 21 for the second night in a row. strained right calf sidelined Dallas point guard Jason Kidd for the second night in a row, but the Mavericks had a season-high in points for a half (66) and for a game. Delonte West scored a season-high 25 on 9-of-12 shooting, including 5 of 6 3-pointers. Vince Carter scored 21 for the second night in a row.
- Brandon Jennings had 21 points, and Mike Dunleavy added a season-high 20 on 8-of-10 shooting in Milwaukee’s103-82 victory over Detroit. “Realistically, we’ve got to have a better record,” Bucks coach Skiles said when asked about Jennings’ All-Star chances. “Let’s see what our record is when the vote comes across my desk. I think you have got to be on a winning team. That should be one nice measurement, and we’re getting close to being a winning team.” Milwaukee, which has won four of six after losing three straight, improved to 9-11. “It would be nice for us to go ahead and punch through .500 and see what happens,” Skiles said.