Despite a ho-hum game from LeBron James, at least for him, the Miami Heat beat the Los Angeles Clippers tonight in Miami’s American Airlines Arena. The 102-97 loss for LA was doubly tough because Blake Griffin had one of his finest games of the season, and certainly one of his best dunks.
Griffin finished with a team-high 27 points on 11-for-15 shooting from the field — including a surprising three-pointer — and 14 rebounds. But Dwyane Wade‘s 29 points and Miami’s feverish defense, starting midway through the third quarter, got them the win.
That’s Miami’s trump card, an ability to buckle down on defense and swarm ball handlers, even those guards as accomplished as Chris Paul, who finished with 5 turnovers on the night. More so than the flash of LeBron and Wade, the Heat’s ability to double-team on the perimeter and still get back on the shooters if the pass gets through, is the biggest reason they’re looking for a third consecutive title this season.
But enough about the game. We’ve already debated whether Evan Turner “posterized” ‘Bron during Philadelphia’s shocking upset in their opener. According to the comments, we were in the minority on that one. Then there was the Raptors’ Jonas Valanciunas getting some dunk action on the 4-time MVP, which felt more poster-worthy.
As for this dunk, it’s really Chris Bosh that’s getting the worst of it. Perhaps because he’s been getting dunked more often than usual this season, you can see LeBron backing away once Blake is airborne. There’s a discussion about the merits of this Griffin dunk over at Reddit/r/nba if you’re interested. For now, lets just wonder at Blake’s athleticism.
What do you think?
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