Blake Griffin’s Monster Dunk Weekend
February 9th, 2009 at 10:28 amBy Chris
During the weekend, OU’s Blake Griffin did some things this weekend that made watching college basketball fun. Not only that, but it looks like Oklahoma’s manchild is beginning to distance himself in the race for college basketball player of the year. During the Sooners win over Colorado, Griffin threw down two incredibly nasty dunks, both of which are available in the lead video. However, one of them was so nasty, it deserves its own special place in this post.
As you can see, ESPN thought so highly of Griffin’s flush, it made their top plays of Saturday night.
Beyond flashy, dominating dunks, Griffin’s play — as documented in the stat sheet below — has been a model of dominating efficiency. All season long, Griffin’s PPG has hovered around the 22 point plateau, except for the beginning of the year when he was averaging close to 30. Furthermore, Griffin grabs 14 rebounds a game, meaning he’s a double-double threat as soon as he gets off of the bus.
One area of concern for Griffin, like most big men, is free throw shooting. Currently, Griffin is averaging a Shaq-like 59 percent from the charity stripe, something teams could very easily take advantage of in the March tournaments, provided they wanted to use a “hack-a-Griffin” approach to the game.
Hey, whatever helps you win, right? If that means fouling the potential college basketball player of the year (and overall number one draft pick) every time Oklahoma’s on offense, so be it. If Griffin struggles with his free throws, why on earth would you let him attack the rim with impunity when he’s so much easier to deal with when he’s shooting one-and-ones or double bonuses?
