page_title: Blake Griffin
section_title: New coach and owner (2013–2015)
hierarchical_section_title: Blake Griffin / NBA career / Los Angeles Clippers (2009–2018) / New coach and owner (2013–2015)
caption_attribution_description: Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers and Zach Randolph of the Memphis Grizzlies.
context_page_description: Blake Austin Griffin is an American professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association. He played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners, when he was named the Consensus National Player of the Year as a sophomore. Griffin was selected first overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2009 NBA draft, and has since been a six-time NBA All-Star and a five-time All-NBA selection.
  Griffin won four high school state titles at Oklahoma Christian School under his father, head coach Tommy Griffin. Griffin played two seasons of college basketball for the Sooners before entering the 2009 NBA draft, when he was selected by the Clippers. During the final pre-season game of 2009, he broke his left kneecap, had surgery, and missed the entire 2009–10 season. Griffin made his NBA debut as a rookie the following season, in which he was selected as an All-Star, won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, and was named the NBA Rookie of the Year. In 2011, Sports Illustrated called him one of the NBA's 15 Greatest Rookies of All Time.
context_section_description: After a disappointing first round exit in the playoffs, the Los Angeles Clippers sought new leadership and hired head coach Doc Rivers. In his first season with Rivers at the helm, Griffin averaged a career-high 24.1 points per game. He was voted as a starter in the NBA All-Star Game, making it his fourth consecutive All-Star appearance and third consecutive start. From January 20 to March 26, Griffin recorded 20+ points in a franchise-record 31 straight games. On April 2, 2014, Griffin and Chris Paul led the Los Angeles Clippers to a 112–108 win over the Phoenix Suns to clinch their second franchise division title. The next day, Griffin recorded his fourth career triple-double with 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists in a 107–113 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
  The Los Angeles Clippers finished with a franchise-best record of 57–25 and earned the third seed in the Western Conference playoffs. They would be matched up with the Golden State Warriors in the first round. On April 21, 2014, Griffin scored a playoff career-high 35 points in a win over Golden State. The Clippers would eventually beat the Warriors in seven games in the midst of the Donald Sterling controversy. They would then lose to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the conference semifinals. Griffin was named to the All-NBA Second Team for the third straight year, while also finishing the season third in the MVP voting.
  After controversial remarks by Clippers owner Donald Sterling, NBA commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling from the league for life and forced him to sell the Clippers. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer later bought the Clippers for $2 billion, the largest amount paid for a franchise in NBA history.
  On December 8, 2014, Griffin scored a season-high 45 points on 14-of-24 shooting, including a game-winning three-pointer as time expired, as the Clippers beat the Phoenix Suns in overtime 121–120. This was Griffin's first career game-winning buzzer beater. It gave the Clippers their eighth straight win. On February 8, 2015, he was ruled out for four to six weeks due to a staph infection in his right elbow. He returned to action on March 15 after missing 15 games to record 11 points and 11 rebounds in a 100–98 loss to the Houston Rockets. Griffin finished the regular season averaging 21.9 points, a career-low 7.6 rebounds, and a career-high 5.3 assists in 67 games.
  On April 22, Griffin recorded his first career playoff triple-double with 29 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in a first-round Game 2 series loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Four days later in Game 4, Griffin recorded a playoff career-high 19 rebounds, and with 20 points, helped the Clippers even the series at 2–2. In the series' Game 7 victory that moved the Clippers into the second round, Griffin recorded his second career playoff triple-double with 24 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists. Two days later, in Game 1 of the Clippers' semi-final match-up against the Houston Rockets, Griffin recorded 26 points, 14 rebounds, and 13 assists for his second straight triple-double to lift the Clippers to a 117–101 victory. The Clippers ended up losing the series to the Rockets in seven games.
caption: Griffin (left) and Zach Randolph of the Memphis Grizzlies in a 2013 game
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