Clippers’ Blake Griffin could be cleared for contact in a week
By Tom West
Los Angeles Clippers star Blake Griffin will have his broken right hand re-evaluated in the next few days, and could be cleared for contact as soon as next week.
At long last, the wait for Blake Griffin to return is finally drawing to a close. The Los Angeles Clippers have performed valiantly in his absence and they wouldn’t be 4th in the Western Conference at 41-22 if everyone else hadn’t stepped up behind Chris Paul‘s Point God leadership. However, with the playoffs rapidly approaching, it’s the ideal time for Griffin to be cleared for contact and take the next step to entering the lineup again.
As Dan Woike of the Orange County Register has reported, Griffin could be cleared for contact as soon as next week:
"But even more importantly, Griffin’s return from a nearly three-month absence could take a significant step.Griffin will have his broken right hand re-evaluated in the upcoming days, and he could be cleared for contact before the team heads out on the road next week."
To be precise, the road trip starts on Tuesday March 15 when the team heads to San Antonio to take on the Spurs, surely providing us with one of the Clippers’ best games of the season. Matchups against the Spurs are always closely fought, not to mention the Clippers have the kind of offense, athleticism and pace that came out victorious in the first round of the playoffs last season. As for this season, the Clippers won the last contest rather handedly, earning a 105-86 win on February 18 as they burst out the gates in their first contest after the All-Star break.
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Griffin often fares well against them, with averages of 24.1 points, 13.1 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game in the first round of last year’s playoffs to show just how dominant he can be. However, even though he’s been working on conditioning for a while and has started practicing shooting over the last couple of weeks or so, he won’t be back for the Clippers’ game against the Spurs next week.
For a start, it’s likely that being cleared for contact means Griffin will be participating in full practice, not actual games. Even so, this is still a great step forward if it does happen within a week. Once he’s back in full practice, it won’t be long at all till he’s back in games.
The next matter is the four-game suspension Griffin will have to serve once he’s active again for the incident of punching equipment manager Matias Testi. However, if he’s ready for contact as soon as expected, he should be able to get some full practices under his belt during the suspension and then return to games shortly after his four games out is up.
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So, even though there isn’t an exact return time for Griffin yet, the possibility of him taking to the court within two or maybe three weeks looks likely.