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New Heights: The Cult of NBA Star Blake Griffin

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.

Defenses have already started tossing those cups to the floor. On Tuesday night, Jan. 25, a hard foul from Dallas Mavericks center Brendan Haywood forced Griffin to land on his elbow during Dallas' 112-105 win over the Clippers. "Every play can't be a dunk-contest dunk," Haywood, who was whistled for a flagrant foul, said after the game. Griffin bruised his elbow, though he's downplaying the severity of the injury. Still, while he says he wasn't surprised by the foul, Griffin makes clear he wasn't a fan of Haywood's words. "I wasn't going up to do some crazy dunk," Griffin says. "I was just trying to finish. I didn't like that comment, didn't appreciate that comment."

One of Griffin's biggest fans in particular is also irked. "We don't like it at all," says Griffin's mother Gail, who was in the stands in Dallas. "It's really hard. Blake experienced that a lot when he was at Oklahoma, and we just really didn't think it was going to happen in the NBA. We thought, These guys are professionals. They know that this is their livelihood. I don't really understand it."

Sean Gregory, Time

TheNewEra wrote:great find