NBA fans haven’t seen a classic Blake Griffin dunk in years, as the brand new Brooklyn Nets player was struggling with injuries during his time with the Detroit Pistons. Undaunted by his poor form, Brooklyn signed him with the intention of making him a key reserve.
Griffin made his debut against the Washington Wizards on Sunday night, a team with enough holes on defense to allow Griffin to shine. Griffin might not have turned back the clock to his days as a Los Angeles Clippers star, but he did manage to steal the show.
Griffin’s first points as a Net were a dunk, his first since 2019, as he skied to the rim and finished off a basket that gave Nets fans hope that he could start to return to his high-flying ways off the bench in Brooklyn.
The Nets Twitter account had a bit of fun poking the haters, mocking everyone who said that Griffin was shot athletically and had no chance of being a star in Brooklyn.
BlAkE gRiFfIn DoEsNt DuNk AnYmOrE pic.twitter.com/dKjuwyoI7z
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) March 22, 2021
How did Blake Griffin do in his Brooklyn Nets debut?
There are two ways to look at Griffin’s debut. On one hand, he scored just two points and pulled down two rebounds in 15 minutes despite the fact Kevin Durant wasn’t in the lineup. With youngster Nic Claxton in the game to close it out, Griffin didn’t exactly set the world on fire.
On the other hand, Griffin was able to move without the ball, keep the offensive flowing by setting up Kyrie Irving and James Harden with some quality passes, and play better defense than what we saw in Detroit this season. There are some positives fans can take away from this performance.
Griffin was brought onto this team to be a small ball center off of the bench. He doesn’t need to score 20 points a night. He just needs to do the dirty work down low. With the potential Hall of Famer willing to take on a reduced role to win a championship, he seems more than willing to fill that void.
The Nets are in need of more size and rebounding, and Griffin showed that he can provide that during his debut. If he starts dunking anywhere close to what he was doing near the end of his Clippers tenure, the Nets might need to pinch themselves, as he could be their ideal Sixth Man off of the bench.