LOS ANGELES -- It wasn't exactly Shirts against the Blouses, but the LA Clippers beat the Utah Jazz for the 19th time in 21 regular-season meetings Tuesday night, with Blake Griffin leading the Clippers with 22 points and six assists in the 102-84 victory.
Griffin's night was highlighted by a first-quarter dunk that was set up after Jazz point guard Ricky Rubio was forced to stay on Griffin following a pick-and-roll switch. Griffin sized up Rubio at the top of the key, backed him down and slid by him after three dribbles to launch himself at the rim. Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert was waiting for Griffin under the basket, but before Gobert could leap to challenge, Griffin was already dunking over him and hanging on the rim for the benefit of those with flash photography.
It was a reminder that Griffin is still explosive after multiple leg injuries over the past two seasons -- a partial quad tear in 2015-16, arthroscopic knee surgery in 2016-17 and toe surgery that cut short his 2017 postseason against the Jazz.
Griffin's dunk and the gaze that followed while he stayed on the rim also was a reminder of one of the best sketches from "Chappelle's Show" in 2004, "Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories," with Dave Chappelle portraying Prince. Chappelle's Prince punctuated a win against Charlie Murphy's crew with a dunk and a blank stare, and Griffin was asked what was going through his mind when he finished the play.
"Prince," Griffin said, with teammate DeAndre Jordan replying, "Blouses," a reference to what Charlie Murphy called Prince's team before losing to his crew in a game of hoops.
The next morning, Griffin referenced the dunk and "Chappelle's Show" on Instagram, with the caption "game. clippers."
