Blake Griffin and DeMar DeRozan agree and differ on dunk contest
Reporting from Oklahoma City — Blake Griffin and DeMar DeRozan had common ground in their thoughts on the dunk contest but only to a certain point.
DeRozan thought he was robbed when he did not reach the final of the dunk contest Saturday at Staples Center, and said he was done with it unless the props landed on the cutting room floor.
Following the Clippers’ loss here Tuesday, Griffin talked about the dunk contest and DeRozan’s comments as he walked down the hallway of Oklahoma City Arena to meet his family and friends. Griffin jumped and dunked over a car for the winning dunk.
“To be honest, I’m not a huge [fan] of props either,” Griffin said. “If you don’t have props, you’re going to be limited.”
He might have been exhausted after running the gantlet of All-Star activities but had an edge to his words talking about the Raptors’ DeRozan.
“I used one prop,” said Griffin, emphasizing the word “one.” “I used one prop and it was the last dunk, so if that was directed at me …”
Griffin’s teammate Chris Kaman thought DeRozan should have gotten better marks from the judges.
“Interesting, I thought DeMar DeRozan kind of got robbed a little bit,” Kaman said. “I thought he had some really nice dunks. It was like a prop fest, to be honest. It was stupid to me. Bringing out two hoops, putting stuff on the rim.
“The thing of it is — there’s not much stuff left. It’s like a prop fest of who brings the better props.”
He wanted Griffin to push the envelope even more, though.
“It was cool with Blake,” Kaman said. “It’s never been done before. I was telling him after the game, you should have tried to windmill it.”
On second thought …
“Maybe not,” Kaman said. “If you windmill it and get hung on the front of the rim, you are landing back on that car.”
Said Clippers’ Coach Vinny Del Negro: “I was more concerned if it was a truck or something. Cars are pretty easy for Blake. If it was a Hummer or 18-wheeler, I’d have been more concerned. Hoods of cars, that’s not a problem for Blake.”
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