LOS ANGELES – Clippers guard Austin Rivers is preparing to return to action Wednesday night against the Thunder after missing 10 games with a fractured left hand.
Rivers said he feels ready to go after shooting for the past week, and by not rushing back to play Monday, the additional couple days off helped him get back to full strength to face one of the Clippers’ top competitors in the West.
“This was actually the game they wanted me to play, just because I wasn’t really quite ready for the Brooklyn game,” Rivers said. “It’s amazing how much can change in two or three days, just your hand healing.”
Rivers said he’s continued to push his workouts the last couple days, particularly in practice. If he was going to play, he didn’t want to have to ease into it. By testing his hand in workouts and 1-on-1 drills going to his left, he knew he was ready to go all out in a game.
“I think I could’ve played, maybe, versus Brooklyn, but I didn’t have the confidence in my hand yet,” Rivers said. “I needed two or three days of physical 1-on-1 to really test my hand. Now that I’ve done that, I know my hand’s ready to go and I’m ready to go.”
This is a new situation for Rivers, who missed the final 20 games of his rookie season after breaking his hand, but has never had this long of a stint off and then returned to action in the middle of an NBA season. Because of that, he’s not sure what the biggest challenge will be as he gets back on the floor, but he’s not worrying about it.
Head coach Doc Rivers said it may take a little bit of time for Austin to get his rhythm back, which is especially tough for guards who need to handle the ball, but Austin said he believes playing hard trumps everything and that he’ll quickly find his way.
“Just from experiences where I’ve missed a game or two like anybody else, you just come back and play,” Austin Rivers said. “You’re not worried about the rust or anything like that. I’ve been shooting the past week. I feel back.”
He said he may need to wear a gel pad, but the only protection he had as he practiced Wednesday before the game was tape around his left index finger and middle finger.
“I sprained some muscles, so they don’t want it to spread,” Austin Rivers said. “They just wanted the buddy tape. I only have to do this the next week, then it’ll be back to nothing after that.”
That wasn’t the only positive news the Clippers received on the injury front, either.
Blake Griffin told reporters during his jersey honoring at Oklahoma that he felt he was “very close” to a return, though no timetable was in place. Austin Rivers added that Griffin looked like his normal self as he watched him work out and put up shots recently.
“He was shooting it like Blake shoots it from that mid-range,” Austin Rivers said. “He was rolling to the basket, jumping high. He looked pretty good, so he’s got to be pretty close.”
