Blake Griffin is back.
Less than a day after Doc Rivers said his superstar power forward was “very close” to returning, the Los Angeles Clippers coach confirmed that Griffin will suit up for Sunday’s contest with the Houston Rockets.
Blake Griffin WILL play today, per Doc Rivers
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) March 15, 2015
Doc said Blake was cleared and he told him he was ready to return. That's all he needed to hear. He will start today with no limitations.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) March 15, 2015
And here’s the five-time All-Star getting shots up in warmups while wearing a protective sleeve on his right arm.
Griffin was abruptly sidelined on February 8 with a staph infection in his shooting elbow, subsequently undergoing surgery to remove it. The Clippers went 9-6 in his absence, spurred by MVP-level play from Chris Paul and furthered interior dominance by DeAndre Jordan.
Jordan, who averaged nearly 15 points and 19 rebounds while Griffin was out, says his team will benefit in the long-run from playing without one of its marquee players. Via USA Today:
“I feel like the positive in (Griffin’s absence) was for everybody to learn how to play without certain guys,” Jordan said…
“I don’t think there was any panic (when Griffin went down). I feel like there may have been guys who were a little worried, but like I’ve said before, when Chris went down last year (with a shoulder injury and missed more than a month) it was kind of like the same thing. We were used to it. We were used to one of our MVPs going down and everybody having to step up a little bit to pick up the slack … There wasn’t a sense of a panic, just more of a focus on guys having to be ready.”
He has a point – gone are early-year whispers of something being “off” about the Clippers. They moved from up from sixth to fifth in the West with Griffin sidelined, and trail the Portland Trail Blazers by just two and-a-half games for the conference’s third playoff seed.
With Blake back, might Los Angeles regain its preseason standing as a legitimate championship contender? We’ll find out soon enough – the Clippers and Rockets tip-off from Staples Center at 3:30 EST on ABC.
