Los Angeles- Blake Griffin's tomahawk dunk had been brewing.
As Griffin threw down his dunk of the year to this point Saturday night against the Bulls, taking a second-quarter pass out of a pick-and-roll from Chris Paul, dribbling once and rising up to throw it down on Robin Lopez, it was if it the play was predetermined.
“Last time I had gotten it, CP hit me on a roll and I went up against Lopez and I kind of threw up a bad shot,” Griffin said.
His teammates saw the same thing, and J.J. Redick said he could guess what was coming next.
“It's funny, because we had just talked like two plays before that he had a chance and he was like, 'Man, I just got to go right through his chest,'” Redick said.
That was the same advice Griffin got from head coach Doc Rivers at the timeout before the play.
“Doc said, 'Go through him, don't try to go around him, don't try to do all that,'” Griffin recalled. “We got what we wanted in the pick-and-roll, and I just tried to take it hard, like Doc said.”
If his previous shot against Lopez didn't get him juiced enough, hitting the deck going for a loose ball without getting a foul call certainly did. The next time a fired-up Griffin got the ball, he put Lopez on a poster.
The Clippers trailed, 51-39, as Griffin took the pass with two minutes remaining in the second quarter. Taj Gibson was slow to recover, and Lopez was the last line of defense, but Griffin had too much steam.
Needing a spark to stay within striking distance, the dunk did the job, helping the Clippers end the first half on a 16-5 run to get within five points. At the next timeout, Griffin turned to his head coach.
“I was like, 'Is that better?'” said Griffin, who finished the night with team highs in points (26) and rebounds (13).
Here's a look back at some of Griffin's best dunks of all-time, in chronological order.
