Rowan Kavner
LOS ANGELES – Hornets head coach Steve Clifford sees the value in Blake Griffin beyond 82 games.
Clifford said the Clippers have “done an unbelievable job” winning during the regular season without Griffin, a player he said was in the conversation for the best power forward or center in the league prior to his injury, but it’s in the playoffs where his unique skillset pays off most.
“I did a thing yesterday and somebody asked me if they’d be better without him,” Clifford said. “Absolutely not. There’s a big difference between playoff basketball and regular season, and he possesses all of the traits you need to have in order to win in the playoffs.”
Griffin’s averaging five assists per game, the most of any player his height or taller this year in the NBA, while scoring 23.2 points per game and shooting a career-high percentage on jump shots.
“He’s a great player, a great passer,” Clifford said. “He can score the ball. And, to me, up to the point he got hurt, he had to be in the conversation for best 4/5 player in the league.”
Prior to playing Clifford’s Hornets, the Clippers entered the game on a seven-game winning streak, the last six coming without Griffin. Chris Paul said he doesn’t believe it’ll be any sort of major adjustment once Griffin returns to keep the success going.
“When Blake comes back, I think it’ll give everybody a little more added confidence,” Paul said. “Obviously, right now, J.J. (Redick) and myself, we’re shooting a lot more shots. That probably won’t be the case when Blake comes back. But, things come a lot easier when Blake plays.”
Head coach Doc Rivers said Friday there’s no new update on Griffin’s return from a partially torn quad tendon.
Griffin’s shooting free-throws and running on the AlterG anti-gravity treadmill. The plan is for him to add weight-bearing exercises the next few days and get reevaluated next week. Whenever Griffin does return, Jamal Crawford agreed the Clippers won’t have a problem bringing him back into the fold.
The Clippers went 9-6 last year without Griffin, then followed that up by finishing the season 14-2 when he returned to the lineup.
“Blake is so unselfish,” Crawford said. “We know he’s our go-to guy. We can all adjust to that. That’s pretty easy.”
