Olympics still a possibility for Griffin
SALT LAKE CITY — Blake Griffin’s left quadriceps hasn’t bothered him since his return from a lengthy layoff, which could be good news for the U.S. Olympic team.
The Clippers power forward recently acknowledged that off-season surgery was a possibility since the quad remained partially torn, but he said late Wednesday night that he was encouraged by how he felt in his first three games back.
“If it keeps going this way, I don’t think I’ll need to,” Griffin said, referring to surgery, “but that’s something to decide on down the line.
“That’s not something I’m really worried about right now.”
Surgery would probably keep Griffin out of the Rio Olympics this summer. He has long professed a desire to participate after sitting out the 2012 London Games because of a knee injury.
Griffin was back to looking more like one of the world’s top players Wednesday, especially early in the Clippers’ 91-81 victory over the Lakers at Staples Center. He made all four of his shots in the first quarter on the way to 11 points while operating around the basket and added a 17-foot jumper in the second quarter.
Griffin faded a bit in the second half and finished with 13 points on five-for-10 shooting in 24 minutes, but he looked vastly superior to the player who had scored six points in his first game back and four in his second.
“I’ve been encouraged after every game with how I felt,” he said. “All the work we’ve done over the past month has helped. So I’m excited about that.”
Staying behind
As promised, Clippers Coach Doc Rivers allowed regular starters Griffin, Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan and J.J. Redick, plus reserve Wesley Johnson, to skip the trip to Salt Lake City so they could rest.
With forward Jeff Green (right knee bruise) and guard Austin Rivers (sore left ankle) questionable to play against the Utah Jazz on Friday night, the Clippers could feature some interesting rotations. No, owner Steve Ballmer and mascot Chuck the Condor have not been added to the active list.
The team listed a probable starting lineup of Cole Aldrich, Pablo Prigioni, Jamal Crawford, Luc Mbah a Moute and Paul Pierce.
Their backups will be rookie Branden Dawson, second-year guard C.J. Wilcox and forward Jeff Ayres plus Green and Rivers, should they be available to play.
Rest is nothing new for the club’s regular starters, who have sat out the fourth quarter in five of the last six games they’ve played because the Clippers held such commanding leads.
“It’s becoming a nice trend,” Doc Rivers said. “We like it.”
Don’t jinx it
Redick doesn’t want to hear about how he could be on the verge of holding the Clippers’ single-season record for three-point shooting accuracy.
“Would you go to a pitcher in the eighth inning and say, ‘Hey, man, how do you feel about your no-hitter?”’ he quipped.
Redick’s 47.0% shooting on three-pointers is a few ticks above Eric Piatkowski’s 46.6% from the 2001-02 season. He’s not going to quibble even if he falls short.
“I think I take a lot of tough threes and shoot at a pretty significant volume of threes,” said Redick, who needs to make eight more three-pointers to break his franchise record of 200 from last season, “so anything over 40% I’m happy with. If it ends up being 45% or 47% or 48% or whatever, it’s all good to me.”
Playoff payoff
The Clippers said goodbye to Kobe Bryant on Wednesday, lingering on the court after the game to share their appreciation of the Lakers star whose NBA career ends next week. The moment also served as a reminder that the teams have never met in the playoffs with or without Bryant.
“A lot of people try to hype up this rivalry, but rivalries are kind of made in the playoffs,” Griffin said. “So it would’ve been cool to have a chance to do that.”