Takeaways from the LA Clippers’ 102-84 win over the Utah Jazz

Balanced offense and effort on defense were just two of the keys that allowed the Clippers to stifle the Jazz for their third win of the young season.

Blake Griffin still has ups

Over the past few seasons, fans and experts around the league have begun to question whether Blake Griffin‘s athleticism is starting to decline because of the power forward’s injury issues. Last season, Griffin threw down 68 dunks, which was 34th in the league. While it doesn’t compare to his rookie year dunk total of 214 dunks, his total from last year shows that Griffin was still dunking a decent amount and more than people were realizing. A large part of the reason Griffin’s dunk numbers have dwindled has been because he’s expanded his game on offense and that the power forward is choosing when to use his explosiveness in order to avoid getting injured while trying some crazy poster attempt.

Anyways, Griffin showed that he could still get up and slam it down in the Clippers’ season opener, but came away with an even more impressive highlight slam in LA’s win over the Jazz. Griffin posted up Ricky Rubio just inside the three-point like and quickly turned the corner on the smaller point guard. Jazz center and noted shot blocker Rudy Gobert left DeAndre Jordan to rotate over and help Rubio but got caught in no mans land when he saw Griffin poised to take flight. Gobert didn’t even get a chance to jump before Griffin climbed the “Stifle Tower” and threw it down upon his head, hanging on the rim with an emotionless stare reminiscent of Dave Chappelle in  SNL’s skit about Prince playing basketball.

Just three games into the season, Griffin has already thrown down two poster dunks and with plenty of games left, the power forward will surely add a few more defenders to his list of victims before the season ends.