Sean Marks on Blake Griffin: ‘He keeps getting better and better and better’
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At the beginning of the Nets rebuilding process, it was all about finding young outcasts or diamonds in the rough: Joe Harris, Spencer Dinwiddie, D’Angelo Russell. Now, that the goal is the O’Brien Trophy, the Nets priorities have changed. Now it’s about finding and signing castoffs, like Jeff Green, Mike James, Blake Griffin.
The strategies are different but the goal remains the same: use all your resources, from coaching to development to performance to help the player make a difference. With Griffin, six-time All-Star, five-time All-NBA player and likely future Hall of Famer, the process looked like it was going to be a tough one. The player who jumped over a Kia and made a lot of people look silly had seemingly lost it. On arrival in Brooklyn, he hadn’t dunked in 464 days. Some even thought he couldn’t.
A season after winning an NBA championship in the bubble, the Los Angeles Lakers find themselves in the NBA s play-in round, needing to win a game just to reach the postseason. The Golden State Warriors, who bounced back after a dismal, injury-plagued 2019-20 to put themselves in a position to return to the playoffs, stand in their way.
When the 2020-21 season tipped off just before Christmas, few would have predicted that these two teams the past two Western Conference champions would have been meeting on this stage. It doesn t quite have the same stakes as past postseason meetings between LeBron James and Stephen Curry, all of which happened in the NBA Finals, but it is still bound to be an exciting game, with a first-round meeting with the Phoenix Suns on the line for the winner. The loser will face possible elimination on Friday.