Blake Griffin alley-oops in a 26-footer, jaws with Denver’s coach, no big deal
For this, or any generation, Blake Griffin is the NBA’s ultimate alley-oop finisher. Blessed with superior hops, he developed his expert timing and pitch-perfect footwork through rigorous practice, and as a result he remains one of the great finishers in NBA history. So much so, in fact, that you wonder if his oop endings should be awarded with more than just a measly two points.
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To wit:
OK, so Blake didn’t exactly get rim on that one, but that’s not the point. He’s now hitting these from 25 feet away, and the rest of the NBA should cower at the thought of this newfound wrinkle in Clipper coach Doc Rivers’ game plan.
The Clippers got their act together in Denver on Tuesday, somewhat. There were still some laughable defensive lapses, but the crew managed to jump back into the Western Conference playoff bracket and back to .500 with the 111-94 win. Griffin needed 20 shots to score his 18 points, and that’s even with the 26-footer that he called “crazy” after the win.
What was a little odder than “crazy” was the rare Players vs. Coach back and forth that went down in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t the same sort of shouting match that media heard on Sunday afternoon, following the Clippers’ embarrassing loss to Toronto, as that was a bout between Clipper reserve Josh Smith and an as-yet unidentified assistant coach.
No, this was between Nuggets coach Michael Malone, and Griffin. If your boss can read lips, this might not be safe for your office:
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Typically players tend not to jaw with coaches, and the same deference exudes from the other side of the sideline stripe, which is why Malone showed a bit of remorse postgame. From Christopher Dempsey at the Denver Post:
“As a head coach, as a leader of this team, I can’t get caught up in that kind of stuff,” he said. “I owed them an apology. Have to set a better example for our team, and we just have to keep on working. Stay together and keep on working, and find a way to stay positive. Hopefully a win will come soon.”
Ben Bolch at the Los Angeles Times had Griffin’s response:
“It will be taken care of,” Griffin said, alluding to possible action taken by the league office. “I have confidence that it will be.”
The back and forth took place after Malone decided it best to intentionally foul Clippers center DeAndre Jordan repeatedly in the fourth quarter. Jordan, who entered the fourth having missed seven of 15 from the line (an improvement on the 37 percent mark he rolled up to the game with), hit four of 10 freebies in the final frame to help the Clippers hang on to a needed win.
Malone may regret his back and forth with Griffin, but he has no such qualms over his strategy with DeAndre:
“They were frustrated with us fouling DeAndre,” Malone said. “And, trust me, I’m not a fan of it. But it’s a rule you can use, and we felt that we had a better chance of fouling him than allowing them to take a shot. So we went to it. I think they were frustrated with that, some words were exchanged and that’s what happened.”
Malone is a darn good coach, this is why his rebuilding Nuggets (led by a 19-year point guard in Emmanuel Mudiay) entered the contest at a surprising 6-8, but he’s also known for being a bit feisty. As you’d expect, with Mudiay working with a team low -18 in just 23 minutes of play, he also got into it with his rookie during a third quarter timeout:
After the game, as is NBA custom, both player and coach downplayed the, erm, discussion. Malone starts us off, from the Denver Post:
“By no means is there an issue with Emmanuel or anybody else on this team. We are together, we are unified and we’re going to continue to fight to stay together to get this thing turned around.”
Said Mudiay: “It’s just both of us being competitors. It probably was my fault, I could have been doing a lot more. So I kind of put the blame on myself. I’ve got nothing against Coach, I respect him. He’s a great person, and I have all the respect in the world for him.”
Just your typical Nuggets/Clippers game. On a random Tuesday in November.
Someone lead these guys to the carbs and gravy. Something to settle the boys down.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
