Watch: Blake Griffin's near-dunk goes near-viral

Griffin returned to the site of his greatest dunking glory, the Crypto.com Arena (née Staples Center), home of the Clippers. In seven-plus years as a Clipper, Griffin dunked 1,051 times. Marcus Smart may have flashed back to those days when he tossed up a lob for Griffin in the second quarter, and Griffin almost landed it despite a foul from Ivica Zubac.

Clippers play-by-play man Brian Sieman called it a "Mozgov", named after the former New York Knicks center Griffin dunked on two weeks into his rookie season in 2010. Griffin would go on to win the dunk contest later that season.

Now, Griffin has become a role player for the Celtics, spending a great deal of his time shooting from the perimeter instead of playing above the rim. He's dunked three times in 12 games with the Celtics this year, down from his 2.9 dunks per game in 2011-12. Griffin didn't dunk at all in 20 games with the Pistons before his buyout in 2020-21, and now he has what Jim Jackson called "selective hops." He can still leap, just not very often.

Even the ground-bound Griffin has been a quality player for Boston. He's only played 194 minutes, but when he's on the floor, the Celtics are scoring 139 points per 100 possessions, the second-best mark on the team. If he can stay healthy, those selective hops could be a huge weapon in the playoffs.