After coming out of a fake retirement this summer, Blake Griffin is back in a Pistons uniform and looking like an MVP candidate and a fantasy basketball steal.
He started the season with 26/8/6 in a win against the Nets and then put up 33/12/5 with 5 threes in a win against the Bulls. On Monday, he scored a career-high 50 points with 14 boards, 6 assists and 5 more threes in a win against Joel Embiid and the 76ers. 28 of those 50 came in the first half, which was highlighted by a dunk on the trash-talking and flopping Embiid.
Blake's previous career-high was 47, which happened back in January of his 2011 "Rookie" season. This might surprise some, but many of Blake's biggest stat nights came during his Rookie Of The Year campaign.
- 47 PTS (19-24 FG), 14 REB
- 44 PTS, 15 REB, 7 AST
- 35 PTS, 14 REB, 7 AST
- 33 PTS (14-19 FG), 17 REB, 10 AST
- 31 PTS, 10 REB, 10 AST
- 30 PTS, 18 REB, 8 AST
More surprising than Blake's 50 being the most he's scored in seven years is this was just the seventh 50-point game in Detroit Pistons' history. And the last guy to hit 50 was Rip Hamilton way back in 2006! The other guys on the short list are George Yardley (51 and 52 in 1958), Dave Bing (54 in 1971), Kelly Tripucka (56 in 1983) and Jerry Stackhouse (57 in 2001). You might be thinking, "Where is Isiah Thomas, Grant Hill and Adrian Dantley?" Thomas' career-high was 47 (also had 17 assists in the game), Hill had 46 and Dantley once put up 45 on the Bulls, which is the team Bing, Tripucka and Stackhouse scored 50 against.
JERRY STACKHOUSE (57)
“Ron Artest told me at the beginning of the game that [Bulls] Coach [Tim] Floyd said he didn’t respect my game and he wasn’t going to double-team me,” Stackhouse said after scoring a franchise-high 57 (21-36 FG, 11-13 FT). “Maybe next time.”
The 57 was also a United Center record.
RICHARD HAMILTON (51)
Hamilton's 51 was extra special because it happened at the Garden. Wearing a protective mask on his face, Rip knocked down 19-of-37 shots and all 12 of his free throws against the dynamic backcourt of Stephon Marbury (41) and Jamal Crawford (29).
KELLY TRIPUCKA (56)
When I say "flu game," you probably think of Michael Jordan. If I say "flu game" to a Pistons fan from the early 80s, they will think of Kelly Tripucka, who put up 56 against the Bulls on 18-of-26 shooting while recovering from the flu.
PISTONS GREATS
Back to Blake Griffin, here he is talking with Pistons greats Isiah Thomas and Grant Hill after his historic night.