Blake Griffin/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers, NBA.com

Blake Griffin has averaged 35.5 minutes per game this season. Almost incredibly, he’s averaging 37.2 minutes in the five games he’s played after missing 15 consecutive games because of a staph infection in his right elbow. Griffin himself is not surprised, however.

“I was able to run for three weeks before I even played, so I did a lot of running,” said Griffin, who was out more than five weeks. “That was something I could do, so I did a lot of running, so my conditioning’s pretty good. I mean, it’s not great, but it wasn’t like a concern going into (his return).”

Griffin and the Clippers (46-25) on Wednesday begin a three-game road trip when they play at New York at 4 p.m. The Clippers then play at Philadelphia on Friday and at Boston on Sunday.