While it was clear that veteran big man Blake Griffin was playing high-level basketball for the first time in a while with a brand new team due to the sort of avoidable mistakes he made in his debut with the Boston Celtics in their 112-103 preseason win over the Charlotte Hornets on Friday, the six-time All-Star wasn’t worried.
“I was pretty sped up,” he admitted while speaking to the media after the Celtics’ road win via NBC Sports Boston. “It’s missed easy stuff, a bad turnover here and there — but that’s part of it, I haven’t really played five-on-five,” he added. “It’s just getting that rhythm.”
Even still, Griffin had a solid outing for Boston despite the rust, putting up 7 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 assists in just 16 minutes of play.
Speaking at MFA panel, Celtics’ Jaylen Brown challenges Bostonians to better city https://t.co/6EKh28XNZP
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) October 7, 2022
“The key is just to every day get a little better,” suggested the former Brooklyn Nets big man, seemingly unbothered by what was in truth a respectable rate of turnovers with 2 credited to him. “Screening, rebounding, making the extra pass, those are less of a rhythm thing.”
“Catching on the roll, even just catching and shooting, sometimes the speed is hard to emulate when you’re working out; it’s not something I’m not used to — the beginning of every season, you’ve got to get back in that rhythm.”
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