THERE ARE ENOUGH OF THEM TO FORM A SUPPORT GROUP: THE UNWITTING BACKGROUND PERFORMERS IN THE GROWING DUNK-PORN OEUVRE OF THE HIGH-FLYING CLIPPER, WHOSE STAR IS SOARING AND WHO IS MAKING HIS TEAM RELEVANTTwo months later, when asked by a reporter, Tolliver remembers only certain details, as if recalling a traumatic childhood memory. It was from the left side. He reacted instinctively. The world went into slow-mo. As he speaks, he is standing in the visitors' locker room before a game against the Los Angeles Clippers, and his teammates, having overheard the conversation, enthusiastically chime in. "It was a-mazing!" Martell Webster declares with fake gusto, pretending to be Tolliver. "He had his balls on my head, and afterward he apologized and said, 'Good effort, guy.'"The Gallinari dunk is the more telling, though, for not only does Griffin display his leaping ability and power, but he also includes a beautiful spin move in transition, at full speed, that likely no other big man in the league could execute. This, Griffin says, is his favorite dunk ever, and plenty of folks—including Taylor and Iavaroni—agree. After the game, Amar'e Stoudemire, a man who knows from dunking, weighs in. "That," he says, "was actually incredible." The fact that Griffin scored 44 points in the game is, remarkably, an afterthought.Victim #269: DeAndre Jordan, fall 2010
It's a training camp practice and Jordan, a Clippers center, is going up for a rebound when he senses impending doom. "Somebody don't box Blake out, and all of a sudden it feels like someone is on my back and—ba-roooom!" Jordan says, pausing. "Then I look up, and it's Blake looking back at me, and I'm like, Damn. " The tip-dunk is impressive for two reasons. First, Jordan is 6'11", has arms like windmill spokes and jumps nearly as high as Griffin. Second, it signals that Griffin is fully back. In fact, some people, including Clippers assistant Marc Iavaroni, think he's actually jumping higher.Griffin's preferred finish, of course, is above the rim, though he is more rigid than most in his definition of what qualifies as dunking on someone. "I only count the ones where the advantages are the same," he says. "You're both there, and you both have time to jump." (For the purposes of the NBA List, I have counted every time his dunk is contested by someone at close range; the Lifetime List is, by its nature, more of an exercise in approximation, with me playing the role of Jimmy Olsen to his heroics.) Though Griffin tries to remain stoic on the court, he admits he does enjoy the chalk outlining. "The best part is if you dunk on someone at home and they show it on the replay [screen]," he says. "You come back down the court, and the other team is trying to run a play, and the crowd is like, Ooooh!" And the bigger and badder the defender, the bigger the Ooooh. Which is why the player Griffin would most like to summit is Dwight Howard. (Given his choice of anyone in history, Griffin chooses Dikembe Mutombo because "he really took pride in shot-blocking, which would make it more rewarding.")
Chris Ballard, Sports Illustrated
It's a 5 page read, but well worth it.
