Rowan Kavner
LOS ANGELES – Chris Paul (groin) is not expected to play Saturday against the Rockets after injuring his groin late in his previous game against the Warriors.
Head coach Doc Rivers said he hadn’t checked with head athletic trainer Jasen Powell before his pre-game press conference, but he said Paul wouldn’t be playing, which will move Austin Rivers into the starting lineup.
“We’re deeper,” Rivers said. “So hopefully that’ll help on nights like tonight. That’s why you do it though. That’s why you try to add so many guys. Regular season, guys are going to miss games.”
Paul played all 82 regular season games last season before injuring his hamstring in the playoffs. That gave Austin Rivers more time with the starters, and the backup point guard has also received some playing time with the starters early this year.
Paul is averaging 17 points and 8.2 assists in 32.2 minutes per game this season. Rivers has played 18.8 minutes per game, averaging 6.4 points per game.
“You don’t have Chris Paul, that’s the biggest difference,” Doc Rivers said. “Chris Paul’s pretty good. When he’s not playing, that hurts your basketball team.”
As tough as it is to lose the All-Star guard for the night, Doc Rivers said the Clippers can’t make any excuses. He said not much will change from a game planning perspective, and the Clippers’ head coach hopes the time Austin Rivers received with the starters late last year and early this year will be valuable.
“One of the things we’ve done better this year in practice, we would change lineups just because we think that may happen anyway,” Doc Rivers said. “So I would say he’s had some minutes in practices with them. I don’t think that can hurt. We put Paul (Pierce) in with that group as well.”
