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The New and Improved Blake Griffin

Andrew Damelin

Writer, Fantrax

Before each season the prognosticator in us examines where teams have improved, which have regressed, and projects how those teams will do. For the Los Angeles Clippers, some peripheral (but meaningful) additions were made in Matt Barnes, Lamar Odom, Grant Hill, Jamal Crawford and Ronny Turiaf, but the core of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan remained. Significant improvement over last year's result - a miraculous playoff run where they beat a superior Memphis team in the first round - was not expected.

However, also unexpected was Blake Griffin's significant improvement, and this alone is reason to annoint the Clips as fringe championship contenders.

Blake Griffin's game has grown from pure power and athleticism to a devastating combination of the aformentioned traits and a skillful post game. In his first two healthy seasons, opposing teams were happy to guard Griffin one-on-one in the post. The former Oklahoma Sooner lacked the footwork to effectively post up, and had no range on his jumpshot. This allowed slower forwards to play off Griffin, mitigating his speed advantage.

But what a difference an off-season makes.

In their weekend back-to-back against the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors, Griffin's new repertoire was on full display. He blew by Pau Gasol on the baseline and threw down a reverse slam. He backed down Golden State's Festus Ezeli and dropped in a left-handed hook shot. He burned both teams with multiple up fakes, and a soft back shot from the right side. And he devastated both teams and the Staples Centre's rims with alley-oops in transition.

The efficiency has been incredible. In 28 minutes against LAL Griffin went 9-16 for 24 points, and in 29 minutes vs GSW he went 8-12 for 20 points. On top of the scoring punch, Griffin is developing a good recognition of when the double team is coming, and is making an excellent pass out of it to create open shots for teammates. For the season he's averaging 17.7 points off 53% shooting, 8.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. While there's still much to be desired from the free throw line, he has improved from 52% last season to 62% this year. While these numbers are slightly down from his first two years, he's doing it in 31.9 minutes per game, down from 36.2 in 2011-2012, so there is no real drop-off statistically (per minute), and he's going to have more left in the tank for the playoffs.

LAC has ripped off 19 wins in its past 21 games entering Monday. It is overwhelming teams in transition, and is effective when the game slows down. Going into the 2012-2013 campaign we knew the Clippers had the NBA's best point guard in Chris Paul. We figured the role-player additions would help boost last year's win total. But we did not know that Blake Griffin would make such huge strides on the offensive end. Those strides have made the Clippers a serious threat in the Western Conference.

Andrew Damelin was a finalist in The Score's Drafted competition and is a sportscaster and sports writer. Email: andrewdamelin@gmail.com. Twitter: @Transition_D

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NBA Player News

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Sam Young SG,SF - IND: May 24, 10:42PM: Sam Young (ankle)... Sam Young suffered a sprained left ankle in the third quarter of Friday's game and did not return. He landed awkwardly near the basket on the defensive side of the court, then hobbled his way to halfcourt before heading to the locker room. Young has been getting plenty of burn and has been on the wrong end of a lot of big plays so far in this series. Lance Stephenson and Paul George will continue to get plenty of work on the wings.
Mike Miller SG,SF - MIA: May 24, 9:55PM: Mike Miller... Mike Miller suffered an injury at the end of the first half on Friday. He hit a huge 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the half and was grimacing in pain as the Heat went to the locker room. It's unclear what happened, but he didn't appear to roll an ankle and perhaps he tweaked something in his troublesome back. Check back for updates.

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