A season-high, franchise-high, 2010-11 NBA league-high and just about any other high you want to mention is what Blake Griffin accomplished with his 47 points on Monday afternoon.
The so-called rookie (technically his second year because he didn’t play in 2009-10) also snatched 14 rebounds for his 27th consecutive double-double to rally his Los Angeles Clippers over the Indiana Pacers 114-107.
Griffin is just unstoppable with his all-around game consisting of dunks, hook-shots, jumpers and even three-pointers. I think it might be time to give him the nickname “The New Human Highlight Film.” Do you think Dominque Wilkens would mind?
By: Nick Grays
It would be easy to bash the 16-22 Pacers for not stopping Blake Griffin, but the fact is that Griffin has been doing this to each and every team in the league. Might I add that the Clippers have won five of their last six including wins over the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers.
In 39 games, Griffin has 33 double-doubles full of enticing highlights. Monday was no different because the Pacers had no answer for him.
“It was a spectacular performance by Griffin. We couldn’t guard him. Most of his plays came on pick-and-rolls, so Roy (Hibbert) coming over to guard him was not a good option. Then we had Jeff (Foster), who’s our best defender, rotating to him and we had Danny rotating to him. But he was just too much for us to handle,” said Pacers Head Coach Jim O’Brien.
The Head Coach wasn’t the only member of the Pacers who had something to say about Griffin’s night.
“We wanted to keep him from getting to the paint and just make him take tough jumpers. But he was making a lot of jump shots, so it was hard to defend him,” said Danny Granger who led the Pacers with 32 points. “Anytime anybody in the NBA scores 47 on you, you should be smacked.”
Eleventh-year shooting forward James Posey wouldn’t even shake his hand.
“He tried to, I declined. He already gave us 40 and I’m going to shake his hand and thank him. I’m good,” said Posey.
Overshadowed by Griffin’s amazing performance and a Clippers win was Pacers Darren Collison’s season-high 30 points.
Even though the Pacers have dropped two in a row against the Chicago Bulls and Clippers, the team continues to compete and will take their talents to Golden State to play the Warriors on Wednesday.
The Warriors are 17-23 and will be playing their first game of the season against the Pacers. The Pacers should watch out because they will face Monta Ellis who is averaging 25.7 points per game and scored a league-high 46 points in a game back in september, that’s before Griffin put up 47 that is.
What did you think of Griffin’s performance on Monday? Are the Pacers struggling to stop star players and what does it mean that Griffin dropped 47 on them? Let me know by commenting below!
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