	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE: TRAIL BLAZERS vs CLIPPERS

April 17, 2016

Blake Griffin

Los Angeles, California: Game One

Q. Blake, you looked really good out there today. Had a few high-flying dunks. How would you assess your performance? Do you feel like you're getting closer to being Blake Griffin?
BLAKE GRIFFIN: I felt good. I felt really good. Our offense was really clicking. I thought we were doing the things that we wanted to do and that helps when you're getting easy shots. I got some right at the basket early, so that helps. But pretty close, pretty close to how I want to feel.

Q. Doc was saying it helped that you were able to get off to a good start. How did the start feel for you? Was it different from some of your recent games?
BLAKE GRIFFIN: It felt good. Just like I said, we got to the things we wanted to do early, so getting those easy baskets, getting some post-ups, getting some stuff around the rim was key for me. We just kept it going and played really, really well.

Q. When Doc took this job here, one of his big philosophies always is kind of not to put a ton of emphasis on the offensive glass, and I think it reflects in your guys' overall rebounding numbers. But do you feel you've been a good rebounding team over the past few years?
BLAKE GRIFFIN: We've been solid. I think sometimes we rely on D.J. too much, myself included. Sometimes you kind of take it for granted that he's going to get the rebounds. But as a team I think we need to do a better job of crashing the glass and making it a team thing.

Q. Against these guys, how big of a priority was that and how often was that talked about in the last couple days?
BLAKE GRIFFIN: Every single day. It was a big point of emphasis, and it still will be. They're a great rebounding team. Ed Davis alone is averaging like five or six offensive rebounds against us. So making sure we keep those guys off the glass is a big thing. They crash every time they play so hard you always have to account for them.

Q. That's probably the most you've attacked the rim since you've been back. I know you wanted to play as much as you could coming back. Five games I think you've had. How cognizant are you of I need to save some of this to be ready for the postseason or versus I want to be in as good of rhythm as I can be going in?
BLAKE GRIFFIN: It was a little bit of both. I wanted to play good minutes, decent minutes to get ready, but at the same time the stretch run the last five games is all about preparing for the playoffs. So it was a little bit of both. That is why I didn't play in Utah and in Phoenix. But like I said, I felt pretty good today, so as long as I keep taking steps forward, I'm happy.

Q. Knowing how eager you and your team have been in anticipating getting the playoffs going, and then you have a really nice 20-point win to start it, how satisfied are you with what happened tonight?
BLAKE GRIFFIN: Pretty satisfied, but it's one win. Like I said, I think the best thing about it is we executed on the points that we wanted to execute on. There were obviously some things that we can clean up and get better at, but I thought for the most part we really did everything we wanted to do. Most of the things we wanted to do. But like I said, there are still areas to improve.

Q. The dunks you had, the above-the-rim plays you had, how big was that for you showing that physically you were back and in the type of shape that you want to be for this postseason run?
BLAKE GRIFFIN: My body-wise, strength and all that feels pretty good. Endurance and all that feels pretty good. It's just little stuff, and stuff that you might not be able to see, but stuff that I feel. As far as how I feel around the basket and exploding and all that, I felt fine. But there are just always things to improve upon as far as timing and making up for lost time.

Q. There is a lot being made about how long it's going to take you to get back to being you. But the silver lining and missing those games and having all that rest, you might be one of in the Western Conference playoffs right now, one of the stars that's coming in who has the most rest coming in and can hit his peak in the playoffs?
BLAKE GRIFFIN: Yeah, I've heard a lot about it. I'm just going to go play and play as hard as I can and fill any void that we see as a team. I'm not really worried about the whole can he get back or will he be able to play at a high level. It's just about filling those gaps for our team and finding ways to help.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297