"While most of the Los Angeles Clippers had already dressed and headed for the team bus long after yet another loss, Blake Griffin continued to linger in the locker room, taking the opportunity to catch his breath after a month that taxed him in so, so many different ways.

From the death of a close friend to his whirlwind All-Star weekend to a schedule that had the Clippers on the road for 11 consecutive games, February drained Griffin – even though the rookie's exhaustion has yet to show much on the court.

"I'm better now," Griffin said. "The biggest thing was I've never had to deal with anything like that before all piled on top of each other."

Nothing has weighed on Griffin more than the death of Wilson Holloway, a close friend and former high school teammate. Shortly after the Clippers' last game before the All-Star break, Griffin received a phone call in the visiting locker room in Minnesota that Holloway had died from complications of Hodgkin's lymphoma. The day after the All-Star game, Griffin was one of the pallbearers at Holloway's funeral in Oklahoma City. The Clippers played in Oklahoma City the following day for Griffin's first NBA game in his hometown. When he first noticed the game on the schedule last summer, he planned to leave tickets for Holloway.

"It's been really hard on him," said Gail Griffin, Griffin's mother. "I've been hurting for Blake. We loved Wilson, too. Anybody that knew Wilson dearly loved him."

Blake's All-Star schedule didn't give him much time to grieve. He played in the rookie game then won the dunk contest the following night by memorably jumping over the hood of a sedan. Griffin's parents were stunned as they watched from the stands.

"I was like, 'Oh dear,' " Gail said. "When the car came out, we didn't know. Blake loves surprises. He likes to surprise people and he didn't tell us."