Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Unlike some NBA superstars, Blake Griffin showed a great deal of perseverance by powering through a game five high ankle sprain. Unfortunately, the Los Angeles Clippers‘ forward was unable to make a big impact and was yanked before watching his team drop a third-straight playoff game. Ever since the Griffin bandwagon began to implode because of high-flying dunks and his acrobatic style of play, I have been the ringleader behind the “Griffin is overrated” campaign.
It’s unfair to stomp on Griffin while he is trying to tough out a high ankle sprain, however, perhaps opposing forward Zach Randolph said it best: “It’s the playoffs. It’s a big boy game.” Any NBA fan with an inch of common sense knows that the Memphis Grizzlies‘ front court is leaps and bounds better than the Clippers, but what exactly is LA going to do if Griffin can’t give it a go?
The short term answer to that question is Lamar Odom who, although he has vast playoff experience, is a shadow of himself at age 33. Odom is going to get obliterated by Randolph and Marc Gasol, especially if DeAndre Jordan continues to have a lackluster series and gets beaten on the pick and roll seemingly every time down the floor. Hopefully, the Clippers learn something from this series, however they have a ton of decisions to make this offseason.
One can only hope that this early exit prompts Clippers management to cut ties with Vinny Del Negro, because he very well could be the worst head coach in professional sports.
