Rowan Kavner
PLAYA VISTA, Calif. – Chris Paul and Blake Griffin both left Golden State banged up, but neither player appears to be suffering anything long-term.
Head coach Doc Rivers said Chris Paul (groin) won’t practice Friday but will be probably for Saturday’s game against the Rockets, while Griffin said his knee is feeling all right.
“Good enough to practice,” Griffin said. “Nothing crazy.”
After rolling his ankle against the Suns, Griffin then went knee-to-knee with a player in Golden State. He said he’ll be all right, even though the swelling is not completely gone.
“It’s not bad at all,” Griffin said. “I wouldn’t call this an issue.”
D-League Update
Rivers explained his reasoning for sending C.J. Wilcox and Branden Dawson to the NBA D-League’s Bakersfield Jam, pursuant to the Flexible Assignment System.
Earlier this season, Rivers expressed some hesitancy about sending players down to the D-League without the Clippers having a team of their own, since it’s tough to guarantee minutes and the D-League team will run a different system.
He said it would have to be the right situation, and he saw that with the Bakersfield Jam and his two young players.
“We’re sending them to the right place,” Rivers said. “We talked to them beforehand, we tried to identify somebody that plays somewhat similar offensively to us. The Phoenix group came and it was good.”
Rivers said Wilcox and Dawson need to play, and the Clippers could always bring them back if they need more bodies.
“You look at our stretch, we have a lot of games,” Rivers said. “The only thought we were going to delay is because we have those four days off where we have a bunch of practices… I just want them two to play.”
Rivers also said it’s possible the Clippers could have a D-League franchise soon, but there’s nothing planned yet.
“We haven’t even decided if we’re going to get one yet,” Rivers said. “But it doesn’t take long to get one.”
Top of the Charts
Basketball Reference noted how the Clippers’ starting five of Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan, J.J. Redick and Lance Stephenson is currently the league’s top five-man lineup in terms of plus-minus.
The Clippers’ starting group is plus-47 in points, followed by the Suns’ group of Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight, Tyson Chandler, Markieff Morris and P.J. Tucker at plus-41. To view the whole list, click here.
Last year, the Clippers’ starters also had the best plus-minus among five-man lineups in the league at plus-455, 97 points better than the second-best five-man lineup, which was the Warriors’ starting five.
