NBA Rumors: L.A. Clippers Lose Chris Paul, Blake Griffin To Injury For Duration Of NBA Playoffs
NBA rumors indicate the L.A. Clippers have lost Chris Paul and Blake Griffin to injury. While the Paul injury was already known, now a Griffin injury could have him miss the rest of the 2016 NBA Playoffs. As previously reported on The Inquisitr, Chris Paul suffered a broken hand in Game 4 of the playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers. Now a report from ESPN states that Blake Griffin aggravated a left quadriceps injury, adding another problem for Clippers coach Doc Rivers to deal with.
Though an MRI on Griffin revealed that he didn’t suffer any further structural damage, the Clippers announced that he will not be ready to play again until training camp of next year. The NBA rumors about Paul were also confirmed, as he is expected to also miss the remainder of the 2016 NBA Playoffs. While Paul is currently listed as “out indefinitely,” it is not a good sign that he just went through surgery on the broken hand. He will miss at least the next four to six weeks, with the prognosis likely meaning an end to his season.
This is bad news all around for the Los Angeles Clippers as the team tries to prepare for Game 5 against the Portland Trail Blazers. The first-round playoff series is tied at 2-2, but now the Clippers have to proceed without their two best players on offense. The Clippers do have a deep roster that might be able to win games in the regular season, but the team now has to deal with an energetic Trail Blazers team that is playing with house money.
L.A. Clippers coach Doc Rivers addressed the situation with reporters on Tuesday, April 26, touching on how tough it has been for the team to deal with injuries over the past three NBA seasons.
“Yeah, it’s not the best luck. I mean, it’s the worst that I’ve seen. There’s storms and every storm, it stops raining at some point. We’ve just got to figure it out. We can’t look at the future other than tomorrow. That’s all we’ve got to do. We’ve got to focus on tomorrow. That’s what our team has to do. We can’t control the noise outside of our team.”
Chris Paul and Blake Griffin both suffered these injuries in the second half of Game 4 against the Blazers. The rest of the roster for the Clippers had a tough time playing without the leaders on the court and ended up losing the important road game. There were immediately a lot of NBA rumors about how long Paul and Griffin could be out, but it appears that the worst-case scenario has come true. If the Clippers are going to make it to the NBA Finals for the first time, it will be without Paul or Griffin.
Both teams now have to move forward in the series, but the odds may have shifted to favor the Blazers advancing. Game 5 is set to take place at Staples Center on Wednesday, April 27 at 7 p.m. PT. Game 6 would be on Friday, April 29 in Portland, and then a potential Game 7 would be played in Los Angeles on Sunday, May 1. Start times for Games 6 and 7 have not yet been revealed by the NBA.
There had already been a lot of NBA rumors about what the front office of the L.A. Clippers might do if the team failed to make it deep into the postseason. Now it appears that the Clippers could be on the cusp of a first-round elimination, raising even more questions about what the team could look at doing during the NBA offseason. For the Blazers, a route to the Western Conference Finals may have been laid out, as injuries to Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and Stephen Curry have shifted everything.
[Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images]
