Blake Griffin gets back to star self as Clippers grab win at Blazers
Blake Griffin ended the 2015-16 season about as poorly as possible. The Los Angeles Clippers star missed several months with two injuries — a torn left quadriceps and a broken right hand caused by a punch thrown at a team trainer. The latter earned plenty of negative attention and remains the low point of Griffin’s career, but it was the former injury that forced him out of the first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers. It was all bad enough that Griffin felt the need to apologize for his mistakes this September.
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Thursday night’s season opener at Portland afforded Griffin the chance to start making amends. His performance will likely be all it takes for Clippers fans to forgive him. Griffin looked every bit his All-Star self in his team’s 114-106 win, chipping in 27 points (9-of-22 FG, 8-of-9 FT), 13 rebounds, three steals, two assists.
Better yet, Griffin made it look commonplace and entirely reproducible. He showed the variety skills basketball fans have come to know very well — the leaping, the strength to score and grab rebounds through contact, the shooting touch, the playmaking, etc. It was not his best game, but that almost made it more heartening to see. He looked like Blake Griffin again.
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With Chris Paul adding 27 points and his peerless tempo control, the Clippers looked capable of emerging as one of the West’s best teams and improving their chances at a title in what many have called a make-or-break season. The odds might not be fantastic, but they are a team that could be in position to capitalize if the Golden State Warriors take time to jell.
The Clippers also appear in prime position to keep annoying their opponents (and their fans) at record rates. Thursday night’s game was full of chippy moments with the Blazers, including several that resulted in minor dust-ups between players. The officiating got to the players, too, with Damian Lillard getting very upset in the final seconds as referee Lauren Holtkamp whistled a phantom foul.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
