Blake Griffin and Hasheem Thabeet Have First NBA Clash, Only One Proves a Titan

Fri, Jul 17, 2009

Freaks.

For one, it’s the body of Greek God and the athleticism of a Puma.

For the other his extended extremities and the ability to swat shots like King Kong swats helicopters.

Blake Griffin and Hasheem Thabeet are both freaks in every sense of the word, but if a freak is what it takes to be one of the top two picks in the NBA draft, I’ll take it.

Thursday Night was the first of many meetings between Griffin and Thabeet, and although individual stats don’t suggest it, Thabeet came out the victor by a landslide.

For Los Angles and Memphis, the final score was 68 to 85, respectively. For Griffin and Thabeet, it was 18 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and one blocked shot to seven points, three rebounds, zero assists, and zero blocks—and for lack of a better word—respectively.

With many rookies flourishing in Las Vegas’ 2009 NBA Summer League, you may have not expected the No. 2 pick in the draft to average 7.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks through three games.

Or maybe you would have.

Thabeet has size on his side, in-fact, he sticks out like a sore thumb in the Summer League that’s lacking true centers—but he hasn’t done a great job of using it.

There were times …

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