Clippers News: Blake Griffin to be re-evaluated in a week

It sounds like Blake Griffin’s injury rehab is going well, and the Los Angeles Clippers can now expect for him to be re-evaluated in a week.

Even though no one would have expected it, the Los Angeles Clippers have been surging along to a season-high seven-game win streak without Blake Griffin. His partially torn quadricep tendon (that he suffered on Christmas Day against the Los Angeles Lakers) could have so easily unraveled the Clippers’ attempt to find themselves, but instead the rest of the starters are stepping up and the bench have been playing better than ever.

However, despite all the positives that have been coming in Griffin’s absence, his return is still eagerly awaited.

When he’s back, he can return as their leading scorer and stellar playmaker, with a bench that has been far more consistent (at least on offense) over the last six or seven games. Hopefully for the Clippers, this trend and hot shooting from players like Austin Rivers and Paul Pierce will continue. Because any suggestions that the team may be better off without Blake are beyond premature to say the least. Without some good shooting and a relatively easy schedule, this streak may not have happened.

As for Griffin’s current status, Dan Woike of the Orange County Register has reported that he’s making progress and is using an anti-gravity treadmill to start getting his legs back to normal.

Rowan Kavner of Clippers.com has added that Blake plans to start weight training soon, and will likely be re-evaluated in a week.

The rehab sounds like it’s going well, especially as he’s set to move onto weight training soon which is obviously more strenuous, he will clearly be out on the longer side of the originally reported “at least two weeks”. That would have just been a rough estimate anyway, but it seems as though another week or two is what the Clippers should prepare themselves for until they receive a re-evaluation in the next seven days or so.

In the meantime, Chris Paul will be the team’s undisputed leader. He’s been playing with aggression and looking for his own shot more, although he can do that while still dropping 19 assists as he did against the Portland Trail Blazers — his highest total for a game since joining the Clippers in 2011.

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As for the bench, they’ve really stepped up their game. Rivers has been averaging 18.3 points over the last four games while shooting a ridiculous 60.9 percent from the floor and 64.7 percent from three (making 2.8 treys a night). Pierce has been doing a great job too, with averages of 12.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in the six games since losing Griffin, including going 57.7 percent from deep.

The longer this continues, the better. Yet, how long they can keep it up is another story. One bench player who can be counted on, though, is Cole Aldrich. Having a typical center instead of Josh Smith as a small-ball option has been far better, and he’s offering both defensive stability and adding more interior play on offense, too.

Next: 5 trade targets to fix the Clippers' bench once and for all

Two players who haven’t been making a difference, though, are Lance Stephenson and, of course, Smith. The former has been stripped to minimal minutes and the occasional DNP, whereas the latter has been handed a DNP in six of the last eight games. Now that they’re right at the bottom of Doc Rivers’ rotation, the chance of the Clippers creating a multi-player trade to alter this failed experiment seems more likely.

For my ideas on players the team should try to target in order to help fix the bench once and for all, click here. In the meantime, Clippers fans can be thankful that Griffin is recovering well and guys are stepping up in his absence.