The L.A. Clippers have stunned the West, getting off to a 4-0 start, led by talisman Blake Griffin, who took the team's fate in his own hands, drilling a clutch last-second trifecta to bury the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, keeping his team undefeated through the start of the season.

Griffin faced early questions of potentially leaving the franchise after much discontent with early playoff exits and the team not really playing to its potential, but thanks to a timely acquisition of Jerry West, the big man decided to re-sign with the team, setting the foundation for the franchise moving forward.

“Jerry had a major voice to me, and he’s had an influence in coming and working on the culture here,” Griffin told Shams Charania of The Vertical. “This franchise had unfinished business, and I had unfinished business here. We had unfinished business together and I valued that. We laid it out there that no matter what was going on around us, both sides hadn’t accomplished what we set out for.

“I couldn’t abandon this now.”

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The 28-year-old forward now faced a challenge of being the lead singer in an band, whose members rapidly drifted away as the offseason played out.

“I embrace the challenge,” Griffin said. “With Chris [Paul] gone, it changed our dynamic. For me, of course, I can look at it: I have the responsibility on my shoulder – all season. I have to do it. When Chris sat out, I was able to show it. I want to prove that I can sustain that style of play. Chris was one person, but we also lost J.J. [Redick], who I knew going into the free-agency process wouldn’t be back, Jamal [Crawford], who I thought we’d keep this summer but we had to move him around.

“So part of our core guys separated and that affected us. It changed the philosophy and we had to be accepting of the challenge.”

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Griffin has made the most out of this challenge so far, scoring 22 or more points in each of the Clippers' wins this season, standing atop the Western Conference and heading into a five-game home stretch that should test them. The Logo has once again played a big role in the structure of a team, this time keeping perhaps the most valuable piece to the little that is left from the Clippers core.