Blake Griffin playing hard in the paint Monday at Charlotte/Photo by Associated Press
When Blake Griffin took the floor Monday to help his team take on the struggling Charlotte Hornets, he was coming off a rather poor effort a day earlier in a 107-91 loss at Memphis. In that one, Griffin had just 12 points on 5 of 17 shooting and the 6-foot-10 power forward grabbed a measly four rebounds; he also had four of the team’s 10 turnovers.
Monday was a different story. Griffin scored 22 points and grabbed 16 rebounds and doled out nine assists in a 113-92 victory at Charlotte. Griffin still struggled a bit with his shot, making 10 of 23. But the back-to-back performances were night and day. Teammate Jamal Crawford noticed.
“Tonight he was forceful and dominant,” Crawford, who had 21 points of his own and moved into 10th-place on the all-time list for made 3-pointers, said post-game. “Inside his energy was that he came out on a mission, and we just followed him.”
Crawford now has 1,723 3-point baskets. He surpassed the 1,719 made by Dale Ellis, who played six-plus of his 17 NBA seasons with the Seattle SuperSonics. Crawford, a Seattle native, recalled taking in a game in which Ellis was terrific.
“I was at a game in Seattle when he hit nine 3s,” said Crawford, in his 15th season. “To me, I’m not in that level of shooting. So to hear those names, its unbelievable. Last year I passed Steve Nash.”
The Lakers’ Nash is 12th all-time with 1,685 3-point baskets.
Crawford’s career shooting percentage from 3-point range is 35.1, Ellis’ was 40.3