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Blake Griffin Healthy and Excited About Young, Hungry Clippers

The Clippers rookie forward is a steady communicator -- polite and well-spoken, but far from dynamic. So when he said before Thursday's win over the Kings at Arco Arena that he was ecstatic to be playing again after a stress fracture in his left kneecap kept him out all of last season, you simply had to trust he was telling the truth.

"I'm definitely more excited (now), and I was extremely excited last year," Griffin had said so stoically. "Sitting out has made me extremely hungry. It makes you realize how much you love the game and how much you miss it."

"He looked good man," said a smiling Baron Davis, the Clippers point guard who was part of the viewing audience as he sat out with a sore knee and strained calf. "He's just a difference maker. His energy and his level of intensity the way he plays, he's a game-changer."

Dare we say, special, Davis was asked?

"Very special," Davis quickly answered. "Very special. Like superhero special."

"I'm 110 (percent) right now," he said when asked about his level of excitement to play with this group. "You can ask all the players right now. I'm up shouting, talking. We've got a real talented group of kids. They love the game. They're working hard. And for me being the older guy on the team it makes me feel younger, makes me want to go out and work just as hard as they work."

Sam Amick, NBA Fanhouse