Breaking down Austin Rivers’ impressive numbers since Blake Griffin’s injury

Since Austin Rivers landed on Blake Griffin’s leg causing his latest injury (not saying it’s Rivers’ fault), the LA Clippers have played three games. While all three of these were losses, Rivers did more than his part for at least two of the games.

Editor’s note: This was written prior to last night’s loss to Minnesota. In that game, Austin put up 23 points on 9/18 shooting along with 4 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals in 37 minutes.

Some interesting numbers for Rivers

Over the first three games since Blake Griffin’s injury, Austin Rivers is averaging 21 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists. If you add four games before Griffin’s injury to the mix, Rivers is averaging 17 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists. He is sitting at a career-high 14.3 points per game with a career-high three-point percentage as well (40.7%). Rivers is shooting 45% on pull-up shots from behind the arc.

This is the first season that Rivers will (likely) average 30+ minutes per game. (Right now he is at 33.5 MPG) One interesting thing to note for all three of these games is that Rivers never played more than 36 minutes. While 36 is plenty, the injury-spell that the Clippers have been under could call for more from the scoring guard (if Doc allows it). Let’s look at what he has done in his last three games.