Blake Griffin had one of the best rookie seasons in recent NBA history, but even he couldn’t help but be a bit starstruck when he came up against the great Tim Duncan. During an appearance on Post Moves with Candace Parker & Aliyah Boston, Griffin shared how Duncan gave him his ‘Welcome to the NBA’ moment.
“It was playing against Tim Duncan for the first time, and this was pregame, early,” Griffin said. “When you have your shooting time. I’m warming up, make a shot, and I turn around, I look to the other end, just kind of glance down there, and Tim Duncan’s doing his bank shot. And I kind of like stopped.
“My coach had to be like, ‘Blake, what are you doing?'” Griffin stated. “I stopped and I was watching him, and that’s like one of those moments where it really hits you that you’re about to play against a living legend. And then later that game, I remember he kind of made this joke.
“It was like a free throw box out, and he’s on the block,” Griffin continued. “I’m next to him and he’s kind of bent over and he looks over and he kind of like rolled his eyes and goes, ‘Not you again.’ And I was like that was awesome. Tim Duncan just joked with me on the free-throw line. That moment for me.
“And I realized a little bit later, I was like that was so disarming,” Griffin added. “Because as a rookie, you come in, you want to go after everybody, and it just makes you be like, man, Tim Duncan’s awesome. You still want to play your best, but I feel the guys that were kind of not so welcoming, it made you want to go extra hard at them.
“And Tim Duncan just had this way about him that he just kind of disarmed you,” Griffin said. “And then he’d just go out and just cook, and it was so frustrating, but he was so awesome that it was kind of an honor to be honest.”
Just some classic mind games from Duncan, who was actually an underrated trash talker. These two first faced off on Nov. 1, 2011, when the Los Angeles Clippers hosted the San Antonio Spurs.
Despite being a bit star-struck, Griffin actually got off to a great start. He had nine points (4-6 FG) in the first quarter, but would slow down as the game progressed. Perhaps Duncan disarmed him at some point after that.
Griffin finished with 17 points (7-13 FG), eight rebounds, one assist, and one block that night in a losing cause. The Spurs won 97-88, with Duncan putting up 14 points (7-12 FG), seven rebounds, two assists, and one steal.
The result wasn’t too surprising, as the Spurs would finish the 2010-11 season with an excellent 61-21 record, which got them the first seed in the West. The Clippers, meanwhile, finished 13th with a 32-50 record.
Griffin, the first pick of the 2009 NBA Draft, still shone brightly, though. He averaged 22.5 points, 12.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game and was the unanimous Rookie of the Year.
Griffin had missed what would have been his actual rookie season, 2009-10, due to injury, and he quickly allayed any concerns regarding his health. The 36-year-old would make six All-Star and five All-NBA teams before retiring in 2024.
We’ll be hearing a lot more from Griffin soon enough, as he will be a studio analyst when Prime Video begins NBA coverage in the 2025-26 season.
