I’m very glad to see that the NBA is starting to warm up and that two of it’s biggest stars, whether they know it or not, are laying out challenges and having them met with such vigor. The NBA schedule is a grind and at this point in the season the players nor the fans are really that into it, so it’s nice to see some players go out there and test their might with some very difficult challenges. It’s a very Super Troopers like approach and I’m into that. First was Klay Thompson scoring 43 points on only 4 dribbles on Tuesday and last night Blake Griffin tried raising him by playing 37 minutes, being 6’10, and not recording a single rebound for the first time in 567 games. Regardless of who you and I choose for most impressive achievement, take a moment and just appreciate what these guys are doing out there.
The Case For Klay Thompson
Completely asinine that one of the best basketball players on earth can completely bypass a whole skill of the game and still score 43 points. You’d think somewhere in a night where he scored 43 points there would be a few times where he got the ball around the 3 point line and drove to the rim, but you’d be wrong. Everything is a catch and shoot jump shot, which he’s one of the best at as we know, a pump fake and a jump shot. Even when he would be driving/moving toward the rim, he’d be taking his legal amount of steps or just fade away. As a guy who has coached at the junior high level(not a humble brag because that can’t ever be that) I can tell you the hardest thing to teach is dribbling. I stressed it every day and explained to my players that dribbling is the fundamental that all others follow. Klay Thompson spit in the face of everything I tried doing, showing everyone that you don’t have to dribble if you don’t want too. You just need to be one of the greatest shooters of all time. That’s all you need.
The Case for Blake Griffin
Unfortunately, there isn’t a cool video of Blake Griffin not getting any rebounds. I wish there was because it be hilarious seeing all the missed shots by the Lakers and Pistons that didn’t go in only to see Griffin not get his hands on any of them. He played 37 minutes, so it wasn’t like he didn’t play a lot. Oh and he’s also 6’10. You’d think just by default he’d be in the proximity of a few balls that came off the rim, but nope. Not one of the missed shots by the Lakers or his own team fell into his hands even by accident. That’s why I love this so much. You see shots all the time where a guard gets a rebound only because they just happened to be where the ball shot off the rim. The fact that it didn’t happen once in 37 minutes for a guy that big is mind numbing. It’s like when a teacher says that you’d actually have to try and fail my class because it’s so easy. That’s what this is like. You’d think you’d have to try and play 37 minutes and not have one ball go towards you. Maybe Blake took a prop bet on himself and purposely didn’t try and get any rebounds. If that was the case, you’d try and make it look good by at least getting one or two.
My Verdict
Let me just say that both of these accomplishments are tremendous and that both Thompson and Griffin should be commended for making January NBA games more interesting. I hope others in the league see what’s going on and run with it. Maybe Russel Westbrook could try and go the whole game only throwing over-head passes, or Patrick Beverley could try and reach double digits in kick balls. Get creative with it.
For who I think had the more impressive night, I will go with Klay Thompson. If he only scored 20 some points, then I’d go Griffin. But he scored 43. That’s so beyond ridiculous to me that it’s almost close to being not ridiculous. You only have three possible things to do when you get the ball and he eliminated one of the options and still scored 43. For that, he gets the nod over the still very impressive Blake Griffin. You really can’t go wrong with any of these two guys. Who ever you picked is your decision. It be great if psychologists would take this question I posed and asked it to their patients to get a read on what kind of person they are. If you can learn about someone by watching them eat, then you can learn a lot of about somebody based on who they choose for who they think was more impressive.
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