New Heights: The Cult of NBA Star Blake Griffin

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Larry Smith / EPA

The Los Angeles Clippers' Blake Griffin takes a shot against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Jan. 25, 2011

The one on the Russian is the best. Haven't seen it? Go to YouTube and look for the clip titled "Double Dose of Insanity: Griffin vs. Knicks." This one has already attracted nearly 1.5 million views. Blake Griffin, the 6-ft. 10-in. rookie power forward for the Los Angeles Clippers, catches a pass just inside the foul lane. As he starts to rise, each of his hands palms a different round object. In one hand, of course, is the basketball. But in his left hand, Griffin practically cups the head of 7-ft. 1-in. Knicks center Timofey Mozgov, then uses it to propel himself upward, as if it were a spare piece of gym equipment.

Griffin is essentially eye level with the rim, and at that point he dunks it over Mozgov, his springlike body so high off the ground that his hands never actually touch the rim (the basketball cliché of "throwing it down" has never been so apt). After the slam, and right before he whistles Mozgov for a foul, the ref's body briefly recoils, as if he sees something, well, shocking. He might as well have screamed, "Holy s___!" before making the call. Griffin says he didn't realize he used Mozgov's head until he watched the film the next day. "It wasn't a conscious decision," Griffin says. "I was just trying to brace myself. If I didn't do that, I probably would have toppled over."

The second "dose of insanity" was just more Griffin acrobatics, this time over Danilo Gallinari, the sharpshooter from Italy who plays for the Knicks. (For the record, Griffin calls this dunk, off a fast break, his favorite of the year.) So does this guy have something against immigrants? Not at all. During his illustrious rookie campaign, Griffin's dunks have embarrassed pros from both the U.S. and abroad. Just ask Anthony Tolliver of the Minnesota Timberwolves, a Missourian, about the poster treatment Griffin gave him in November. No wonder Griffin's groupies pass his dunk clips around the Web like trading cards.

In fact, with the NBA season fast approaching its All-Star break, Griffin has given a generally unsurprising season its biggest (and a much needed) jolt. The San Antonio Spurs, at 39-7, are certainly better than people expected. But no one is shocked that a four-time NBA champion, albeit one with an aging core, has thrived. The Miami Heat may not be undefeated, as many pundits seemed to expect, but LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Co. are still leading their division. So are the Los Angeles Lakers, even if there is more Kobe Bryant–Phil Jackson bickering than in recent years and many observers (including former Lakers star and general manager Jerry West) claim the team is past its prime, and the Boston Celtics, last year's Eastern Conference champs, who on many nights can look pretty unbeatable in their own right.

On the other hand, no one thought Griffin, just a rookie, would come to dominate the highlight shows and become a viral sensation. He was the top pick of the 2009 NBA draft as a sophomore out of Oklahoma but broke his kneecap in the last preseason game. Surgery cost him the entire season. Most young athletes take years to recover from these kinds of setbacks; recurring knee and foot injuries, for example, have stalled the career of Greg Oden, the top pick in the 2007 draft.

Somehow, Griffin has come back even better than he was before. "I tried to turn the injury into a positive experience," he says. "Just sitting and watching, for me, was just good. I knew what it was going to be like, so I was a lot more comfortable coming in." Entering the Clippers' Jan. 29 game against the Charlotte Bobcats, Griffin is averaging a double-double: 22.6 points and 12.8 rebounds per game. At one point he notched 27 straight double-doubles. "He's just always adding stuff to his game," says Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love, who is on a 31-game double-double streak of his own. "He's got the dribble moves and that shot off the glass. He plays like every possession is his last." Griffin is shooting 51.5% from the field, and according to a recent ESPN.com statistical analysis, by one measure of overall effectiveness, Griffin is having the third best rookie season in the past 40 years, behind only Hall of Famer David Robinson's 1989-90 campaign and the 1984-85 debut of a guy named Michael Jordan.

What's the key to Griffin's production, besides the obvious athleticism on display? "You've got to talk about his pop," says one NBA team executive. "It's unbelievable." By pop, he's referring to Griffin's ability to jump quickly, and high, off the ground while standing still. Griffin doesn't need a running start to go grab rebounds, nor a dribble or two to dunk from close range. This makes him a more efficient player. He pops like a pogo stick, which saves his energy for the highlight-reel plays.

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