Above the rim; that's where Blake Griffin was playing for most of the night. He was making the same plays that earned him ROY honors last year: a double-clutch dunk along the baseline, a monster dunk off of Chris Paul's setup in the 4th, and a posterization of Matt Barnes on the fast break (shades of Timofey Mozgov? I'm sure all you faithfuls know what I'm talking about, but click the link anyway. It's worth another look). BG even threw in a nice fadeaway over Bynum for good measure.

Don't get me wrong. CP3 played out of his mind (and I hope his injury at the end there was nothing more than a pulled hamstring), but Blake brought back The Poster Child in him. The Poster Child gets fans out of their seats. CP3 sends us home with the win. Life is good in Clips Nation!

While the Clippers (5-3) were on the road in Portland, I could only watch helplessly (as opposed to watching hecklingly at home) as Blake Griffin would get caught behind a screen instead of rotating out to the weak-side shooter. Through the first seven games, my mantra had been 'The defense needs work'. Last night against the Miami Heat, I saw the first semblances of a good team defense. Teammates helped, they helped the helper, and got defensive stops when they needed them. And of course it starts with your leader, Blake.

If Blake is willing to commit to improving his team defense, the rest of the team will follow. This was the case with Deandre Jordan (11 rebounds, 6 blocks, and just 4 fouls). Most importantly, DJ played defense without fouling (out). The big guy might be starting to understand that he doesn't have to swat everything into the expensive seats. When he plays with the 'block every shot' mentality he leaves himself susceptible to fouls on pump fakes and outside jump shots. Not to mention leaving his man open under the basket when he goes to help. But DJ played some inspired defense against the Heat. His six rejections were great, but his best defensive play came on a key late-game drive to the basket by Lebron James. DJ moved his feet, stood straight up, and used his entire 6'11 frame to change LBJ's shot.

Some might say the Clippers fought hard to get the W and some might say they were lucky The Big Three missed free throws down the stretch (9 of 16 in the fourth quarter). Either way, credit Clipper Nation for showing up as the 6th man because the bench sure didn't (Just an anemic 8 points off the pine). In previous years LBJ would have taken those free throws amidst chants of M-V-P. So keep it up ClipsNation! Lob City- Bandwagoners welcome here.