Blake Griffin has missed the Clippers last 15 games with a partial quad tear, but as Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times told us in a PBT Podcast, he was expected to return Tuesday night when the Clippers visited the Pacers.
But he’s going to be out a while longer, according to Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin returned home early from the team’s five-game road trip after suffering a suspected broken right hand in an undisclosed team-related incident, ESPN.com has learned.
Sources told ESPN.com that the hand injury -- unrelated to the torn quadriceps muscle that has sidelined Griffin since Dec. 26 -- is expected to keep him out “a matter of weeks as opposed to days.”
“Undisclosed team-related incident” is an interesting phrasing. I’ll leave it to you to speculate on what that means.
While the Clippers are 12-3 without Griffin, the team’s bench has struggled of late (in Toronto Sunday it cost Los Angeles the game) and the return of Griffin would have helped stabilize the rotations again.
There is no word on how long he will be out, but this is his right — shooting — hand so it has to fully heal.
Griffin is averaging 23.2 points and 8.7 rebounds a game, he can knock down threes and finish at the rim with authority. He’s one of the game’s best power forwards, and the Clippers need him back. They are going to have to learn to be patient for a while.