Blake Griffin, who turned 28 in March, made his name as one of the most authoritative finishers in the NBA. In recent years that reputation has taken a hit as the Clippers superstar has gotten older and lost a bit of the explosiveness he had as a 22-year-old.
On Tuesday, Griffin took us back to 2012 and showed that he can still climb the ladder, at least in the first week of the season. After bullying Ricky Rubio, Griffin exploded into the lane and crammed on Jazz center Rudy Gobert. But the best part of this dunk came after, when he hung from the rim with no expression on his face.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31n3qrCqfgw
Griffin’s post-dunk pose immediately led to comparisons to Dave Chapelle playing Prince in Charlie Murphy’s famous story about hooping with the legend and his backing band, The Revolution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3KskO3_2YQ
🥞🥞🥞 pic.twitter.com/x0jYPfpizA
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) October 25, 2017
Yo Blake Griffin hung off the rim like Prince in the Chappelle's show skit after dunking on Gobert pic.twitter.com/yN7lxisRzD
— JzoSports (@JzoSports) October 25, 2017
Same pic.twitter.com/d0TQG9ZDK3
— The Crossover (@TheCrossover) October 25, 2017
One astute reporter asked Griffin about this after the game. He played it cool and gave a pat answer about attacking the rim. But his teammate DeAndre Jordan, who just so happened to be wearing a blouse of his own, made it clear that Griffin’s homage was absolutely intentional.
Was Blake Griffin paying homage to Dave Chappelle's Prince when he dunked on Rudy Gobert? #Blouses pic.twitter.com/eQt1qg5BpS
— Law Murray 🐦🔥 (@LawMurrayTheNU) October 25, 2017