Top Power Forwards entering 2014-2015: #3 Blake Griffin

   

Image from Thenbasocial.com

We continue our rankings with Blake Griffin as our #3 Power Forward entering the upcoming NBA season.  Griffin is one of the most polarizing players in the league, he is constantly criticized for not coming up big in playoff games, being reliable in the fourth quarter, and a lack of a post game. That being said, it cannot be argued that Griffin had another tremendous year. Griffin finished the year with averages of 24.1 PPG, 9.5 RPG, and an impressive 3.9 APG. Griffin finished in the top 10 in scoring and finished third in MVP voting. 

    Blake averaged a career high in scoring this year, and contrary to believe it was not all due to his athletic ability. Griffin developed a nice handle to go along with his physical prowess. He loves to face his opponent up more often than he loves to back them down in the low post. He catches the ball around the high post area and likes to to use his handles against other bigs to attack the rim towards the middle of the floor. He is a nightmare in the pick and roll coverage, often times posterizing defenders that are late to recover.  In addition, he developed a mid ranger to keep his defenders honest and opened up more pick and pop plays.

     His low post game increased dramatically this year, after Paul's early season injury he increased his low post shot attempts to nearly 6 a game. Griffin is comfortable on both sides of the low post area(although he prefers the left side). Griffin has a smooth over-the-shoulder left handed hook, that he uses constantly to go along with his right handed hook, look at the following three plays. He has a series of countermoves highlighted by his up and under shot fakes. Griffin loves to bully defenders with his shoulder often times knocking them out of position and giving him easy layups. 

     Griffin also got to the free throw line last year 8.5 per game and shot a career high 71% from the stripe, we see no reason as to why this cannot continue to get better. The flip side to that is that 71% is still not a good percentage for somebody who is needed on the floor at the end of games, something that hampers his performances. Griffin continues to be a nightmare in fastbreak situations, he is still one of the league leaders in dunks and racks up quite a few points on fast break alley-oops.

      In addition to this, Griffin has dropped his rebounding totals, after averaging a double double his first two seasons, he has failed to do so his previous two. Griffin averaged 9.5 RPG, that is good but not overly impressive. While it is true that Jordan consumes most of the available rebounds, we don't see why Griffin cannot average a double double(the perfect example of this, is Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic). Griffin, is also not a good defender, he averages less than 1 BPG, and cannot be entrusted with the job of guarding the other teams premier big man(that job is entrusted to Jordan). 

     Griffin has all the tools to be the #1 Power Forward in the world, but his constant struggle in the playoffs, as well as his unreliability in the fourth quarter of games continues to hinder him. Griffin's stats dropped during the playoffs to 23.5 PPG and 7.4 RPG, and averaged a ridiculous 4.1 personal fouls. Griffin must find a way to rebound at an elite rate again while staying on the floor during crunch time. While his assists numbers are great, he needs to be able to average at least one block and improve his one on one defense. If griffin does this, we expect him to be higher in our rankings the following year.

Here are his top 10 plays of the year.

The Heat are hungry, while the Thunder settle

One win win away from an NBA championship, and this particular group will not let it get away. The heat took a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Thunder and now have history on their side (in the NBA finals, team that take a 3-1 series lead are a perfect 30-0). The thunder started out the game like the desperate team clearly looking to tie the series up. They jumped out to a 17 point lead.
This Miami Heat team though, will win the NBA championship. Faced with all the adversity possible , the Heat toughed out the win. Something that perhaps last years group wouldnt have been capable of. It is in my opinion, not a matter of a lack of talent for the Thunder, but more of who wants it more. The 50-50 balls, the hustle plays, the Heat clearly have won all those battles. Down 17, the Heat fought back using the most unlikely of sources, Norris Cole the rookie provided the offense to power the Heat back into the game.
           When Lebron James went down with what seemed to be cramps, the Thunder smelled blood in the water and still couldnt take the win. Russell Westbrook had perhaps the best game of his playoff career with 43 points, but committed a crucial foul on chalmers after a jump ball.  Speaking of that jump ball, down 3, and with 3 seconds left in the shot clock, Shane Battier tipped the ball out of kevin durant´s hands and right into Chalmers, who was then fouled inexplicably by westbrook (three seconds left in the shot clock for the heat). Thats what this team has become, a team who finds a way to win basketball games.
It hasnt always been pretty, but  when Lebron has 26, wade 25,  and Chalmers 25, you know that this team is ready for a championship. Today it was Chalmers, the previous two games it has been Battier. Okc however has gotten nothing beyond Westbrook and Durant, to the point that tonight in the 4th quarter it seemed like they were playing 2 against 5. Harden has been terrible and nowhere  near his 6th man of the year status. Before The finals, Harden had never been held to single digits scoring this postseason.
        Westbrook, has been higly criticized (myself included) for taking so many shots, but how can you blame him when nobody else has stepped up? James Harden will not sleep for a while this summer, his performance was so dull, that it came to a point where he had a wide mid range shot and still hesitated. It is important to note that he struggled as well in the semifinals when he had to spend so much energy guarding Kobe. This series he spends all his time either on Wade or Lebron, and perhaps its taking a toll on him. But championship teams find a way, the Thunder seemed content with being here, The Heat are not. Thats why, the Miami Heat will be 2012 NBA Champions.
       When the Thunder look back, they will know it wasnt because of a lack of talent, but because of who wanted it more, and right now, nobody wants it more than the Miami Heat, 1 through 12. NOT just the big three.

A series of Storylines will define game 3 of the 2012 NBA FINALS

Image from smtdaily.com

         The Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat will continue tonight what seems to be shaping up as a classic NBA Finals. In Game 1, the Thunder erased an early deficit and rallied behind Durant´s monster 4th quarter. Game 2, Miami once again jumped out to an early lead and the Thunder fell short of another monster comeback at the end.  Several storylines have developed, and will continue to be watched tonight. Russell Westbrook, after being severely criticized after his game 2 performance has stated that he will not alter his play despite the criticism. Westbrook will be the center of attention tonight, as everybody closely watches the amount of shots westbrook takes as well as the shot selections from the Thunder´s point guard.
         How Westbrook comes out to start the game is crucial, as Oklahoma has faced double digit deficits at the beginning of both games 1 and 2. The Heat know Oklahoma´s tendency to start out slow, and Oklahoma will not have the benefit of their home crowd for the next three games. Miami will no doubt play much better at home, if Oklahoma continues to start out slow, this series wont last as long as much people expect. On the flip side, after a bounce back game 2, it is important to keep an eye on Dwyane Wade, as he continues to battle a mysterious Knee injury. Wade (just like Oklahoma) continues his first half struggles and looks to provide another strong game to help out Lebron. With Bosh now in the starting lineup, Wade no doubt benefitted from Bosh´s floor spacing, and knee injury or not, will look to continue to attack Oklahoma´s defense.
          Tonight, for the first time in a long time, nobody will ask Spoelstra what his starting lineup will be, with bosh back in his comfort zone in the starting lineup, and Battier playing the best basketball of his postseason there will definitely be no change tonight. Bosh, who is well rested in part because of his injury seems to have embraced his role as the Heat´s center after his strong performance on the boards with 15 rebounds (a much needed effort against OKC´s strong frontcourt) in game 2. While the big 3 for Miami played like the big 3, we cannot undermine Harden´s strong 21 points on only 11 shots. Harden obviously gives the Oklahoma bench an advantage now that bosh has rejoined the starting lineup, look for harden to be much more aggressive tonight and take well over 11 shots.
            Of course all eyes will no doubt be on Lebron James and Kevin Durant, after gaining the best of lebron with his monster game 1 fourth quarter, Lebron escaped game 2 with a controversial ending in which many believe James fouled Durant on the last play of the game. However, the game was not decided on this play, it was decided on the 18-2 deficit that the thunder fell in. Foul or not, the Heat are lucky because Durant missed a shot he makes 9 out of 10 times. Just like a foul could have been called on Lebron at that moment, Durant´s six and final foul could have been called earlier when Battier was called for a blocking foul on Durant. Tonight expect spoelstra to do much of the same, and split the duties of guarding Durant between Battier and Lebron. Most would like to see Lebron on Durant the entire game, (Durant asked to guard Lebron before the series began) but lebron is already being asked to do so much, that it is not convenient for Spoesltra to leave James on Durant the whole game. Consider the worries of Heat faithful that say Lebron is playing too many minutes another factor that will stop Spoesltra from leaving Lebron on Durant for 48 minutes.
            The game will be decided in the first and third quarter, if OKC gets out to another slow start, expect the heat to leave tonight with a 2-1 series lead, the third quarter will also be crucial, but OKC will not be at home tonight, if they fall behind, they will stay behind. For the Heat, Lebron James must continue his strong play and hope that Dwyane Wade provides the Dominant 1-2 punch they need, and rebound the ball well. The heat kept Oklahoma out of their transition game in the last contest, something that hadnt been done to OKC this entire postseason. One way or another, the storylines leading up to tonight´s game will give way to an epic game 3.

Heat is on D.Wade and the Heat tonight

As game 2 fast approaches in Oklahoma city, all eyes will undoubtably Be on Dwyane Wade. Wade, who before Tuesday's game 1 was averaging 30.6 ppg in the finals, has been everything but himself. Battling a knee injury which he has spoken little of, Wade has allowed teammate and league M.V.P Lebron James to carry the load. Lebron himself has said that he tries to tell Wade from time to time to take over and be that Dwyane Wade that everybody has come accustomed to seeing. Lebron James had another well rounded game with 30 points and 9 rebounds, but he didn't shoot the ball well and it wasn't enough to upset Kevin durant's huge 4th quarter and second half rally. Meanwhile Wade managed only 19 points on 19 shots, and at times seem reluctant to even take shots, twice he came down and struggled to decide whether to shoot the ball or pass it (first time he was called for a travel and second time he pump faked the shot wide open and when he finally shot it missed it). When Chris Bosh and Lebron came to Miami to join Wade, the idea was for each to no longer have to carry th burden of carrying the whole team by themselves and win championships. Whether Wade is hurt or not, he needs to be more than just A deferring superstar for the heat to stand a chance against the young and hungry Oklahoma City Thunder. If Wade needs prove of it, he just needs to look back to last year's finals when Lebron inexplicably played well below his standards and left Wade to do all the work and in the end Dallas took the championship from them in six games. Wade has said that he will look to score more in game 2 and Oklahoma expect wade to have a much bigger game, James harden is expecting a much more aggressive Dwyane Wade, and Perkins has warned everybody that Wade usually follows a bad game with an huge one. However, Miami must also expect a better game from Harden who spent much of game 1 in foul trouble. Another big storyline is how long will Eric Spoesltra allow durant to be defended by players not named Lebron James. Durant (who asked to guard the M.V.P before the game) was on fire in the fourth quarter and by the time Lebron got on him, it was, in my opinion too late for Lebron to try to cool him off. Spoelstra must also decide whether he continues to bring Bosh off the bench, at this point Bosh is ready to start and they need his production to ease Lebron and Wade's scoring burden.If Miami wishes to take the series back to South beach tied at one game apiece however, it will ultimately rely on whether Wade can shake off his struggles and deliver a vintage performance to help his M.V.P teammate and shift the momentum in Miami's favor. Otherwise the Heat will fall in a 0-2 hole that will send the Heat into a world of trouble and Wade into more questions about whether he is still an Elite player.

First of many, insight on NBA basketball

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