Blake Griffin is being rested for his first official game as a member of the Brooklyn Nets. The team management has cited injury management as its reason.
Advertisement
Griffin was a member of the Detroit Pistons over the past 3 years. He was in pretty good form for them in his first year-and-half. However, he has not been the same since sustaining a knee injury during the 2019 playoffs.
Griffin last dunked on an NBA court in December 2019. The 6’9″ power forward is clearly no longer in his physical prime, but he won’t be taxed much on the same team as KD, Kyrie and James Harden.
Griffin last played an NBA game on 13th February, when the Pistons beat Boston 108-102. His last 20-point game came in a 107-92 win over the Lakers on 29th January.
Is Blake Griffin playing tonight for the Brooklyn Nets?
Given Griffin’s lack of recent game time and his injury history, the Nets have elected to go easy with his introduction to the team’s setup. The former Clippers star officially signed with the team last week, during the All-Star break.
Blake Griffin will not make his debut for Brooklyn against the Celtics on Thursday. He is out for left knee injury maintenance, the team says.
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) March 11, 2021
The Nets will also be missing Jeff Green and Kevin Durant. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot is listed as doubtful, so there’s a less than 50% chance of him taking the floor.
Blake will probably be deployed as a stretch 5 for limited periods. But this is likely to be with KD present on the court, so that the Nets will have a shot-blocking presence in the middle.
Griffin is on by far the most stacked team of his career thus far. Even so, you can rest assured that the Nets will have to go through a Murderer’s Row in the Eastern Conference playoffs this year. Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo are going to prove quite tough for them to handle.
