Blake Griffin

Breathtaking? And how about adding breath-stopping to the mix? The Clippers' Blake Griffin managed to do just that in one memorable quarter in his highly anticipated NBA exhibition debut, a 97-85 Clippers victory against the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night at Staples Center. In all, he had eight points on three-for-six shooting and five rebounds in 21 minutes. His second quarter featured mammoth dunks and one sequence in which he went flying over the scorer's table then, just as swiftly, recollected himself and displayed some showy ball-handling skills before turning it over.

Blake Griffin hasn't been a Clipper for long . . . but long enough, apparently. It hasn't even been a month since the NBA draft, but the prized rookie already has an injury that will keep him out of action for weeks, not days. The team issued a release Wednesday saying the power forward suffered a strained right shoulder and will be resting for three to four weeks. This means Griffin, the No. 1 overall draft pick, will miss the USA Basketball national team mini-camp in Las Vegas.

There was an injury to their No. 1 draft pick before training camp started, and, once the official practices started, there was one to the oldest player on the roster and another to the backup point guard Bring it on. The games, that is. The Clippers are familiar with this sort of thing, of course. They can only try to keep it under control, hoping the injury damage is confined to the preseason. They will play their first game in nearly six months -- their regular-season finale was back on April 15 -- Sunday night at Golden State against the Warriors, at 6 p.m. There was summer league in Las Vegas, in July, but that mainly featured an anonymous cast and the Clippers' kids, No. 1 draft pick Blake Griffin and the three rookies last season, Eric Gordon , DeAndre Jordan and Mike Taylor (waived shortly thereafter)

Membership in the NBA draft lottery, seemingly semi-permanent for the Clippers, ended up having its benefits. It took a nightmare of a 19-win season to get to this place, the eve of the eagerly awaited debut of No. 1 draft pick Blake Griffin in training camp. But all things Griffin hardly will be the only compelling story line in what surely will be another eventful season. They are, after all, the Clippers: 1. The Curse of Jenny Craig? Baron Davis showed up last season and said all the right things.

Look at it this way: The Clippers' training staff and Coach Mike Dunleavy are going to get in excellent shape if the first few days of camp are any indication. How so? Chasing after rookie and No. 1 draft pick Blake Griffin , who supposedly is limited in camp because of his injured left knee. "He's a guy you can't keep off the court," teammate Marcus Camby said after practice Thursday. "I mean, he's not supposed to be shooting and you've got Jasen [ Powell ]

Lakers star Pau Gasol scored 19 points and had eight rebounds Monday to lead world champion Spain over Lithuania, 84-70, in the second round of the European basketball championship at Lodz, Poland. With Spain trailing, 24-15, at the start of the second quarter, guard Rudy Fernandez of the Portland Trail Blazers made a three-pointer to spark a 25-3 run over the next seven minutes that put Spain ahead, 40-27. The world champions continued to get out on the fastbreak, and led by 24 in the fourth quarter before pulling most of their starters.

. -- Not even a cheap shot could keep Blake Griffin from leading No. 6 Oklahoma to another victory. Griffin scored 11 of his 25 points after getting hit with an elbow in the second half, and the Sooners staved off a rally by USC for a contentious 73-72 win Thursday night. Griffin, a preseason All-America forward, had to come out of the game after getting elbowed below the waist by USC's Leonard Washington with 13:54 left.

Inside the Oklahoma men's basketball weight room, Darby Rich keeps a close eye on Blake Griffin. He has to. If he doesn't, Rich says, college basketball's player-of-the-year-in-waiting will push himself too hard. "He is a beast. He wants to lift as heavy as he can. He would lift super heavy with his legs on a game day, if you'd let him," says Rich, the team's strength and conditioning coach.

After Oklahoma sophomore forward Blake Griffin accepted the John R. Wooden Award, he was asked to reflect on what was going on in his mind. He could think only of the salmon that awaited him following the ceremony. "I'm hungry," he said to an amused gathering at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

Scan the Clippers' website and you'll see Blake Griffin prominently displayed to help ticket sales for next season. The NBA draft doesn't start until June 25, but the Clippers have the No. 1 pick and don't need to treat scouting reports as intelligence briefings. "Clearly, we're taking Blake Griffin," Clippers General Manager and Coach Mike Dunleavy told The Times on Tuesday. By marketing Griffin on the website, signs suggest the Clippers won't use him as trade bait. But you never know.