Blake Griffin talks about dunking less because of fatigue
No one would deny that Blake Griffin becoming a household NBA name had plenty to do with his inhuman, monstrous, posterizing dunks. His athletic ability became the glaring focus of his game. Whenever he’s had air space to gather and take off it’s usually a highlight at the rim.
But if you’ve watched Blake Griffin this season you haven’t seen him playing above the rim too frequently. Instead he’s been making more simple basketball plays: shooting off the pick-and-pop, using the pass and his dribble to create off the bounce, and doing much less dunking.
Here’s what Griffin shared about his dunking rate in his Players’ Tribune:
My first few years in the league, I was relying on my athleticism to get me by, because that’s what got me to the NBA. The problem with that is, you end up getting really, really tired by February. My rookie year I tried to get out of bed on a road trip near the end of the season and I was like, Am I physically able to walk right now? I went out on the FLOOR that night and ran up and down just trying to look like a real NBA human.
If you were one of those “all he can do is dunk” people with Blake Griffin, that ought to be fully rested by now. All of that running and jumping and posterizing has had it’s toll on Griffin’s body and now he’s called to rely more on his tacit skill set. That’s working out pretty well for him as he’s shooting a career-best 41 percent on two-point shots 16-feet and out.
Not to say that we won’t see any more dunk shows from Blake, but it might be safe to say that the craziest ones are now behind us.