Sports Headlines

I’m sure by now that you’ll all have watched the dunk or dunks by Clippers Forward, Blake Griffin over Lakers Forward, Pau Gasol tonight as the Lakers took on the Clippers in another “Battle of LA” match-up.

However, I believe that the call was wrong and that those “dunks” shouldn’t have been a dunk.

Just like the non-foul call a couple plays before where Lakers Guard, Ramon Sessions drove to the hoop and then lost the ball but, had some contact given to him. As a result to not having a foul called, Sessions would receive a technical foul from the officials. Now if you were watching the game or highlights, you saw that Sessions didn’t respond that bad to the no call and then you also saw that when he did respond, he was no where near an official.

Anyways after viewing the replay of Griffin’s dunk you can see that Griffin locks Gasol’s arm in which, doesn’t allow Gasol to put his arm up to attempt to block Griffin’s dunk. Which as a result Griffin locks Gasol’s arm in and uses it as an extra push to rise over him.

Not to mention depending on what angle you watch the dunk from, you can see Griffin’s left elbow hit Gasol in his head knocking him back and to the ground.

Now don’t get me wrong Griffin has had a lot of great dunks throughout his career thus far but, this one I can’t give to him.

As for the other dunk that didn’t receive as much of attention, was a put back dunk earlier in the first quarter. Griffin, who was trailing behind Gasol, jumped up and grabbed the ball behind Gasol and then as a result dunked it back.

It was an over the back. Now don’t get me wrong it’s exciting to see these dunks but, at the end of the day the right call should be made instead of choosing what’s more exciting. And that’s the problem today in the NBA; they choose excitement over the right calls.

For example the famous travel in the NBA. It’s a complaint made by several viewers as it’s not called as much as it should be. However, congrats to Griffin as the call was what it was and as it stands in the score books, those were both two dunks and a total of four points.

As for the rest of the game, the Lakers would go onto beat the Clippers winning, 113-108 taking a 2-1 season lead over the Clippers.

Here’s the dunk that received the most attention:

Here’s the dunk that I called “over the back”:

When Los Angeles Clippers forward, Blake Griffin dunked over Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins Monday night, Perkins’ name became trending on twitter and the rest of the worldwide web…except for all of the wrong things.

David Lee of the Golden State Warriors tweeted, “I never tweet about opponents highlight plays but that Blake Griffin dunk was crazy, definitely worth mentioning…”

Demar Derozan of the Toronto Raptors and one of the members of the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest last year tweeted, “OMG @blakegriffin!!!!!”

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors tweeted, “……………….REWIND……………….”

Then tweets came out against the Oklahoma City Thunder as well as Perkins alone saying…“@blakegriffin I hope you told Kendrick Perkins to shut up about the mantra!!!” Love was referring to an event at the “Mantra” which is a club in Boston that hosted an event involving Perkins as well as Boston Celtics guard, Rajon Rondo, Memphis Grizzlies forward, Rudy Gay, and Atlanta Hawks forward, Josh Smith.

Though that wasn’t it as Sacramento Kings forward, Chuck Hayes tweeted, “Ok so I just saw the Blake Griffin dunk again, and I’m more impressed that the thunder bench didn’t have a reaction, not one player moved, #teamwork.”

However Superstar and teammate, Kevin Durant would respond to the dunk by saying, “I have no appreciation for it at all,” said Durant “It was a layup, I think. He threw the ball in and got fouled and made his free throw, so it was three points at the end of the day, no matter how it happened, how it went in the basket. I really wasn’t impressed. He finished it. So what? We’ve moved on.”

Durant would continue saying, “I wasn’t surprised [That the dunk gained so much attention] because Blake is a poster child,” Durant said. “He dunks the ball a lot and makes spectacular plays. If it wasn’t against us, maybe I’d say it was a good play, but it was against us, so it was a bad play. I have nothing against Blake, don’t get me wrong. But it was against us, so I’ve got to stick up for my teammate.”

Though that wasn’t all as Durant would continue saying, “I knew that wasn’t going to get attention because we never get attention like that,” Durant said. “We’re not an L.A. team or a Chicago team or a Miami team. All our plays get thrown under the radar.”

Now I have to agree with Durant on this as looking over Griffin’s dunk it honestly wasn’t all that great as it really does look like a layup. However at fast speed it looked like a dunk, but watching it over again, you can tell that it’s just a layup. As for Durant’s comments about them not being noticed as much as other teams, he’s right…but it’s not because they’re bad or that they don’t have as well known players but it’s just the city that they’re located in.

According to the top tens, the top ten most popular states in the United States are, California, New York, Florida, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Washington, Colorado, and lastly Indiana. As for Oklahoma, they’re not even listed as one of the contenders.

So the point I’m getting at is, yes, Durant you are right, Griffin’s “dunk” was a layup and you guys don’t get as much attention as you guys should deserve but it’s not really anyone’s fault who wants to talk or go to Oklahoma? According to about.com the number one attraction in Oklahoma is the OKC National Memorial. Come on Durant let’s be honest you know that Oklahoma isn’t the best place in the world either, coming from the guy who traveled around looking for various recreational sport events.

Last Thursday it looked like guard Chris Paul was headed to the Los Angeles Lakers to join forces with guard Kobe Bryant. However a couple hours later the trade would be vetoed by Commissioner David Stern. The trade consisted of three teams; the Lakers, New Orleans Hornets and the Houston Rockets. The Lakers of course were getting Chris Paul but the Rockets were getting former Laker forward Pau Gasol and then the Hornets were getting former Rocket guard Kevin Martin, former Rocket Forward Luis Scola, former Laker forward Lamar Odom, and a Houston Rockets first round draft pick.

Though after the trade broke ground and the media started broadcasting the news NBA owners including one Cleveland’s owner Dan Gilbert responded. Dan Gilbert emailed Stern saying “Commissioner,

It would be a travesty to allow the Lakers to acquire Chris Paul in the apparent trade being discussed.

This trade should go to a vote of the 29 owners of the Hornets.

Over the next three seasons this deal would save the Lakers approximately $20 million in salaries and approximately $21 million in luxury taxes. That $21 million goes to non-taxpaying teams and to fund revenue sharing.

I cannot remember ever seeing a trade where a team got by far the best player in the trade and saved over $40 million in the process. And it doesn’t appear that they would give up any draft picks, which might allow to later make a trade for Dwight Howard. (They would also get a large trade exception that would help them improve their team and/or eventually trade for Howard.) When the Lakers got Pau Gasol (at the time considered an extremely lopsided trade) they took on tens of millions in additional salary and luxury tax and they gave up a number of prospects (one in Marc Gasol who may become a max-salary player).

I just don’t see how we can allow this trade to happen.

I know the vast majority of owners feel the same way that I do.

When will we just change the name of 25 of the 30 teams to the Washington Generals?

Please advise…

Dan G.”

After emailing the Commissioner, Stern responded by vetoing the trade. When news then broke of Stern’s decision to veto it caused an uproar as media outlets, players, and fans responded.

As a result to the veto Paul threatened to take the NBA to court as he planned on suing them. As for the other players involved, Scola and Martin went to training camp as well Gasol went to the Lakers camp, but Lamar Odom refused. Due to being “traded” Odom felt disgusted and demanded a trade. The Lakers would respect Odom’s wishes and trade him to the Dallas Mavericks for $8.9 million trade exception, as well as a protected first-round pick.

It seemed as if trading for Paul was almost impossible at that point until the Los Angeles Clippers got involved. The Clippers and Hornets would agree on a trade that would send guard Eric Gordon, forward Al-Farouq Aminu, center Chris Kaman, and Minnesota’s unprotected first round pick in exchange for Chris Paul. Though, the deal was that the Hornets had to choose either Gordon or the draft pick. However it wouldn’t matter as Stern put an end to the trade once again.

Trading for Paul appeared to really be dead at that point as two trades were accepted and they were both vetoed. It started to seem like the league and Stern almost wanted to force Paul to stay in New Orleans as long as they could, until Wednesday night when another offer would be accepted; Chris Paul and two future second round picks for guard Eric Gordon, forward Al-Farouq Aminu, center Chris Kaman, and Minnesota’s unprotected first round pick.

Though no one believed it just yet until the approval of Stern was confirmed. After being approved by Stern it was official, Chris Paul was going to the Clippers.