BLAKE GRIFFIN'S DUNK ON KENDRICK PERKINS...AND OTHER POSTER DUNKS!

It's okay Kendrick Perkins, you can come out of the embarrassment of getting dunked on by Los Angeles Clipper forward Blake Griffin.


A day after LeBron James jumped over John Lucas III, Griffin one-upped him and possibly turned in the dunk of the year by making Perkins even madder than he already is. But how does this dunk stack up to others?


I'll give you a few examples of vicious dunks throughout the times. (In no particular order).

BLAKE CREATES THE TERM MOZGOV'ED

In a game against the New York Knicks during the 2010-11 season, Blake Griffin opened everyone's eyes after violating then-Knick center Timofey Mozgov. In my opinion, I think this dunk is more jaw-dropping than the Perkins dunk because of HOW Griffin dunked.

TIM-BER!!

There are so many facial dunks that LeBron James has served up in his career, just ask Damon Jones and Delonte West. However, James' dunk on Tim Duncan was more impressive to me because he made a seven-footer and a future hall-of-famer stumble.

"CRASH" AND BURN

I really love Gerald Wallace and the way that he approaches the game by playing hard and leaving it all out on the court. However, then-Hornet rookie Marcus Thornton completely turned poor Crash into a poster.

KOBE WELCOMES DWIGHT TO THE ASSOCIATION

Before Kobe Bryant wore No. 24, he wore No. 8. Before Dwight Howard was a perennial lock for Defensive Player of the year, he was a young star in the making. Not saying that this dunk changed things but...

LIKE TAKING "KANDI" FROM A BABY

What's more impressive: Amar'e Stoudemire's dunk on Michael Olowokandi OR Stephon Marbury's reaction? The answer: Yes.

DUNKS ARE BIGGER IN TEXAS

Poor Shawn Bradley. He has been put on so many a poster during his career. However, when Tracy McGrady dunked on him in Game 2 of the 2005 Western Conference Quarters between the Houston Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks, Bradley left the game at the end of the season.

LISTER BLISTER

Alton Lister...meet Shawn Kemp. And the Power of Reign.

GOING TO WAR WITH AN AK-47

After becoming the second team to upset a No. 1 seed, the Golden State Warriors found themselves down 2-0 to the Utah Jazz in the 2007 Western Conference Semis. But Baron Davis would not allow the Warriors to go down without making some noise.

SCOTTIE!

The Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks gave us the best NBA rivalry in the 90s with so many playoff wars. In the 1994 East Semis you could still see and feel the animosity after Scottie Pippen scaled Patrick Ewing and talked trash to the fallen Ewing and Spike Lee.

THE DURANTULA STRIKES!

In Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, Kevin Durant and Dirk Nowitzki both reached the 40-point mark, but Dallas won behind Dirk's classic shooting performance. In Game 2, Durant went strong on Brendan Haywood and posterized him.

CHARGING BULL

Yet, four days before, Taj Gibson had the statement dunk of the 2011 Playoffs with his dunk on Dwyane Wade in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Gibson would follow that up with the parting shot to give the Bulls a 1-0 lead in the series.

ROCK-A-BYE BABY

In the 1982-83 season, the Philadelphia 76ers were flat out dominant with a 65-17 record. One of those wins came in this game when Julius Erving dunked on Michael Cooper. The Sixers would win NBA title, only losing one game in the playoffs.

JUMPED THE WEIS

Le dunk de la mort. That French phrase is translated to "The Dunk of Death" and this dunk in the 2000 Summer Olympics by USA's Vince Carter over France's Frederic Weis did exactly that to Weis' NBA chances. Weis—who was taken by the New York Knicks in the 1999 NBA Draft at No. 15—never played in the NBA.

Feel free to share one that I may have missed!

NBA AWARDS PREDICTIONS 2010-11

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

Prediction: Derrick Rose (G-Bulls)

As LeBron James left Cleveland for Miami, many expected Chicago to win the Central Division and be a dark horse in the East. However, no one expected that the Bulls would have an NBA-best 62-20 record and be a serious championship contender. Derrick Rose has been the constant for this team as Chicago dealt with injuries to Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah, a new coach in Tom Thibodeau, and an inadequate 2 guard. Rose raised his average to 25.0 points per game, while expanding his range on the floor with 128 made 3-pointers (he only ATTEMPED 132 threes in his first two seasons). He, the team, and the city now hope he can lead the Bulls to their first title in the post-Jordan era.

Honorable Mention: Kobe Bryant (LAL), Dwight Howard (ORL), LeBron James (MIA), Dirk Nowitzki (DAL)

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR [confirmed]

Winner: Dwight Howard (C-Magic)

Actually more of a confirmation than a prediction, but choosing Howard for the third year in a row is a no-brainer. According to http://www.basketball-reference.com/, Howard had the lowest defensive rating and accounted for more than 7.0 wins on defense alone over the past three years. If you want simpler stats, he had 9.7 defensive rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game this season. Great call for a definite game-changing big.

Actual Runner-ups: Kevin Garnett (BOS), Tyson Chandler (DAL), Tony Allen (MEM), Rajon Rondo (BOS)

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Prediction: Blake Griffin (F-Clippers)

This is another no-brainer here as Griffin dominated from start to finish after missing all of last season. Griffin made up for lost time after leading all rookies with 22.5 points and 12.1 rebounds per game. Aside from his nightly highlight-reel dunks, he received a selection to the NBA All-Star Game—the first rookie to be selected by the coaches since 1998.

Honorable Mention: John Wall (WAS), DeMarcus Cousins (SAC), Greg Monroe (DET), Landry Fields (NY)

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER

Prediction: Kevin Love (F-Timberwolves)

In his first two seasons, Love showed great potential in limited time. However, Love made the most out of his increased playing time by working on all aspects of his game. In addition to leading the NBA in rebounds, he made 41.7 percent of his 3-points and increased his scoring to 20.2 points per game. Also, one cannot forget the impressive 53-game double-double streak or the 31-point, 31-rebound performance against the Knicks on Nov. 12.

Honorable Mention: Eric Gordon (LAC), Dorell Wright (GS), LaMarcus Aldridge (POR), Derrick Rose (CHI)

SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR

Winner: Lamar Odom (F-Lakers) [confirmed]

Possibly the toughest decision I have to make. Do I go with the “true” bench player in Jason Terry or do I go with the better sub in Lamar Odom. Odom wins out due to his 14.4 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. Part of what makes a great sixth man is filling in when needed and Odom did that in his 35 starts. He increased those averages to 16.3 points and 10.2 rebounds while taking over for Andrew Bynum in the starting line-up. Had Odom started six or seven more games…it would be a different story. (The NBA voters actually declared Odom the winner by a landslide, beating Terry 514-244)

Actual Runner-ups: Jason Terry (DAL), Thaddeus Young (PHI), Glen Davis (BOS), Jamal Crawford (ATL)

COACH OF THE YEAR

Prediction: Tom Thibodeau (Bulls)

As the assistant coach for the 2008 NBA Champion Boston Celtics, Thibodeau had a great defensive gameplan that made him very attractive to Chicago this past offseason. After guiding the team to 62 wins, it is safe to say that he is the coach of the year. The Bulls allowed the second-fewest amount of points per game, while winning 21 more games than the season before.

Honorable Mention: George Karl (DEN), Doug Collins (PHI), Gregg Popovich (SA), Monty Williams (NO)

ALL-NBA TEAM

F- LeBron James (MIA)

F- Kevin Durant (OKC)

C- Dwight Howard (ORL)

G- Derrick Rose (CHI)

G- Kobe Bryant (LAL)

ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM

F- Kevin Love (MIN)

F- LeBron James (MIA)

C- Dwight Howard (ORL)

G-Kobe Bryant (LAL)

G- Chris Paul (NO)

ALL-ROOKIE TEAM

F-Blake Griffin (LAC)

F- DeMarcus Cousins (SAC)

C- Greg Monroe (DET)

G- John Wall (WAS)

G- Landry Fields (NY)

CAN BLAKE GRIFFIN MAKE THE CLIPPERS RELEVANT?

On June 29, 2009, Blake Griffin traded in the wind-swept plains after being drafted to a team that plays in one of the best stadiums in the NBA when he was selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.

Now, imagine playing at home in an arena where there are 16 NBA titles and many retired jerseys and numbers, but none of those artifacts are of your team.

Ladies and gentlemen, these are the Los Angeles Clippers and this is Griffin's team.

Sure, sharing the Staples Center with the Lakers might be cool (I guess), but it also means that no matter what you do, you will be like a red-headed stepchild.

Since moving to Los Angeles in 1984, the Clippers have never won the Pacific Division title, made it to the playoffs only four times, and only won 35 percent of their games.

By comparison, in the same timespan, the Lakers are their on way to their 13th Pacific Division title, have only missed the playoffs twice, and won the Finals eight times.

As always though, the Clippers fielded young, talented teams with potential but never could keep those players on their team.

There were the 2001-02 Clippers, who made a serious run for the playoffs before going 3-10 to close the season. After the season, they traded an underperforming Darius Miles to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Andre Miller, who led the NBA in assists. The starting line-up of Miller, Elton Brand, Quentin Richardson, Lamar Odom, and Michael Olowokandi was expected to lead the Clippers to the 2003 NBA Playoffs. However, they went 27-55 due to injuries and missed the playoffs.

The 2005-06 squad did something that the franchise had not done since moving to the Pacific coast--win a playoff series, when it beat Denver, 4-1, narrowly setting up an all-Staples Center 2nd round. However, the Lakers lost to the Suns in seven games in the first round and the Clippers fell to the same fate.

Problem is, the Clippers would be good, but either something bad would happen (SEE: Shaun Livingston), plans fail to pan out (SEE: the 2002-03 Clippers), or owner Donald Sterling would be shewd and not spend his money to retain players.

This year, the Clippers are quite the draw thanks to Griffin. The Clippers are currently sixth in attendance and draw above 17,000 every home game. While they are a long shot to contend for the playoffs this year, the future looks bright with Griffin, Eric Gordon, and DeAndre Jordan at the helm, and with Baron Davis as the experienced veteran.

As a result, Griffin will not only compete in the Rookie/Sophomore game and the Slam-Dunk contest, but he was selected as a reserve for the All-Star Game, giving the each the Lakers and Clippers representation for their home All-Star game.

Griffin is averaging 22.8 points and 12.6 rebounds per game, so one can see why the Clippers actually want to keep possibly the best player in the history of Los Angeles' "second" franchise and are willing to pull out all the stops to do so.

General manager Neil Olshey recently compared the relationship between Griffin and the Clippers much like to Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder and said, "I can guarantee you he will only ever be a Clipper."

There is a long way to go before thinking about tying down a possible franchise changer, but with the team showing potential, it cannot be ignored.

As for now, the Clippers will be the team to lose a game by a last-second flagrant foul (thanks to Griffin) or to lose to a team with a historic losing streak until the team matures.

Ever since moving the Clippers to L.A. in 1984, Donald Sterling has seen his team attend the lottery

more than the playoffs.

Blake Griffin became the Clippers' third No. 1 draft pick in team history in 2009.

(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

After missing all of the 2009-10 NBA season, Griffin has shown that he was well

worth the wait this season with his play and nightly poster dunks.