With 5:35 to play in the second quarter, game still close, the Clippers were shooting over 50 percent from the field. Mike Smith lauded the Clipper effort, before cautioning that they’ll need to keep it up because the Thunder “will have an 8-0 run here in the first half and you know they’ll have one in the second.” You don’t get to hear understatement uttered from Mike Smith very often, but that was definitely the case. It wasn’t long before the Thunder, despite the Clippers hanging around, bolted off from a 47-46 lead, out on a 15-0 run to finish the quarter 62-46. The Clippers didn’t score a single point during the last 3:33 of the half.  More...

Blake Griffin’s return to his home state starts off the Clippers return to the road. The road trip is only three more games, and one is in Los Angeles, so the end is nigh. although the last few days have been uniquely taxing for Blake. Not only did Blake participate in the Rookie-Sophomore Game, the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, and the big boys’ All Star Game, but he flew to Oklahoma City immediately after the weekend to be the pallbearer for his high school teammate Wilson Holloway’s funeral yesterday. Although there were physical demands for the weekend, they pale in comparison to the emotional demands.

More than a Blake dedication or an ESPN headline for the majority of us, Holloway was a friend to Blake and to acknowledge the possibility of absolute loss of potential must be hard for BG to manage. Greater perspective than just sitting out a year due to knee injury is there to be gleaned: just as much as there is potential for greatness, there is potential for a quick demise in all of us. The commonality of always possible and inevitable death accentuates the value of those that can be great in life. Many with that potential don’t ever arrive at their destination, the passing years only sees the waning of that promise, and the future retrospective can be crushing. But what makes these moments so brutal is that the loss effects a rapid drop off: full of life ahead and aptitude to a complete impossibility and absence. There is no way to know how Blake will handle this (everyone here at ClipperBlog sends their condolences to the Holloway Family and their friends).

Not exactly the exuberant return home that Blake might have been anticipating at the beginning of the season, but because of his strong family, dedication and sense of professionalism, I would bet that Blake still plays his hardest tonight, but I won’t blame him if his thoughts are elsewhere. That’s not being unprofessional, that’s just being human.

Keys to the Game

- Former UCLA point guards. Baron Davis loves to teach a thing or two to his younger brethren, only that usually involves them being much smaller too. Jordan Farmar, Darren Collison, Earl Watson are all small, so Baron can muscle them inside. However, Westbrook is much stronger than those other UCLA points and he’s a very good defender. So how Baron handles the match-up, whether he raises his level of play or just increases the amount of hero plays, will play a large part in the outcome.

- Kevin Durant, repeat performance, please. I’m not sure how, but KD scored only 16 points on 6 for 24 shooting night. He’s the best scorer in the league, so it’s unlikely that he’ll have another game like this. Ryan Gomes, Al-Farouq Aminu and the rest of the team are going to have to find away to limit his open threes (KD makes 33 percent, 82.4 percent of which are assisted) and keep him from getting to the line (shoots 88 percent on 9 free throw attempts per game).

- On the block. Serge Ibaka had a strong showing at the dunk contest, with his free throw line jam and picking the toy from the rim dunk, but the fact remains that the Thunder are still susceptible to interior threat. Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Chris Kaman need to be featured in the Clips offense tonight because the Thunder just do not have anyone that can contain versatile big men. Obviously, Blake Griffin will be the main point, but the Clippers need Kaman to have some effective touches as well.

Injury Report

Craig Smith: herniated disc, probable
Eric Gordon: wrist/back, day to day (did not travel, so, out)

After months waiting for Kaman to return from a bone bruise and an ankle injury, Kaman returned in Milwaukee. He surprised with the unannounced return, and his play was without rust so much as his normal idiosyncrasies. He may have pump faked his way into almost breaking Martell Webster’s back, and he had another pump faked shot blocked, but he also reminded Clipper fans that centers can make shots outside of 10 feet, that they can have an offensive repertoire that isn’t just dunks and putbacks. He also corralled 6 rebounds in his ten minutes and blocked three shots.  More...

This weekend is Blake’s weekend, it’s his party, everyone else is just invited. And tonight will cap off one of the best rookie weekends in history when Blake plays in his very first All Star Game.

First let’s recap:

Blake (and Bledsoe) played in the Rookie Sophomore Challenge for only 14 minutes, but still dunking 7 times for all of his points while being on the receiving end of the game’s most iconic moment: the John Wall bounce pass alley-oop to Blake Griffin reverse slam. Didn’t see it? Here it is.

The following night, Blake revives the dunk contest, although no where near singled handedly. I think the interest in Blake is what propelled the contestants to elevate their level of play, but DeMar DeRozan, Serge Ibaka and JaVale McGee all showed up and had as good, if not better dunks than the hometown hero.

Serge swooped from the free throw line for his fist and on his second he plucked a rim height toy with his teeth before throwing down. DeRozan had the side of the backboard, between the legs alley oop and the bounce pass “ShowStopper” scoop and slam. JaVale may have wanted to do his dunks in a different order, but he had his first was two backboards next to each other and he dunked a ball in both hoops. For the second round, he dunked two balls at once, and while still in the air, he caught a third ball for the slam (my favorite of the night). He didn’t let up in his first dunk in the finals either, where he had an under the rim, Dr. J inspired rock the cradle while blindly going away from the rim and tweaking his neck so he wouldn’t bludgeon his head on the backboard dunk. Unfortunately for JaVale, his worst dunk was his last, right after Blake had the alley-oop from Baron in the sunroof while jumping over the hood of the car, almost hitting his head on the rim and then slamming it home. Hard to come back from that.

Yes, it was a good night for basketball.

Blake also had a Vince Carter inspired lob off the glass and dunked the ball to his elbow in the finals, an homage and extension of Vince Carter’s iconic dunk in 2000. In the first round he had a 360 behind the head jam and a side of the back board alley oop jam that probably was bit overscored because of what he was trying to do earlier in his two minutes: a side of the back board oop to a twisting 270 reverse jam. Had he done it, the whole place would have exploded. And strangely, when he did a simpler dunk, it’s like the magic of that first attempt was so great that it carried his score over, leading him into the finals to eventually win.

Blake’s dunks in order:

Everyone was writing on the dunk contest, notably there was John Hollinger, the Kamenetzkys, old friend Kevin Arnovitz and Blake himself, but regardless of whether someone thought that DeRozan or Ibaka were shorted, no one argued against the overall impressiveness of the dunks. This was the best dunk contest since Vince Carter in 2000.

Which is why this All Star Game suddenly matters. If there has been anything realized it’s that Blake, in his “home town,” has energized the entire All Star Weekend to the point that everyone cares about everything he’s in. It’s not just that he’s good, it’s not just that he’s entertaining, but that he takes every single competition seriously. And since it’s on his turf, you better believe that there is going to be some competition tonight. I still doubt that it’ll translate into defense, not only does Blake not do that, but the All Star Game isn’t known for that, but I still think it’s going to be a much more entertaining All Star Game than there has been in years.

Enjoy.

Am I the only one that thinks Sprite is antithetical to dunking? Remember the “Grant Hill Drinks Sprite” campaign?

Has there ever been a commercial or anything more closely associated with the failed dunk?

Who cares. Blake’s athleticism will be on full display tonight.

Here are some reminders: