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.
November 30th: Clippers lose to the Utah Jazz 126-107
Rivers posted 25 points on 9/16 shooting from the field (56.3%), and 3/7 shooting from three (42.9%). He also had a significant total of 6 assists, which is not impressive for a player who has never averaged more than 2.8 for a single season, but rather for someone who has very few other capable scorers to pass to on the team at the moment. Rivers hit all four of his free throws for the game.
December 2nd against the Dallas Mavericks 108-82
This one wasn’t as impressive as it’s predecessor. Austin had just 9 points on 4/15 shooting from the field (26.7%) and 1/3 shooting from three (33.3%). He blocked two shots, which is a plus, but his performance was fairly disappointing for 29 minutes of playing time. Let’s blame the lack of points it on the low amount of three’s he pulled, you will see why that’s applicable in a moment.
December 3rd against the Minnesota Timberwolves 112-106
Rivers scored a season-high 30 points, flirting with his career high of 32 (against the Thunder in 2016). He was 9/14 from the field (64.3%) but more impressively, 7/10 from three (70%). It’s not often you see a slashing guard take 10 three’s, but we are glad he did, and he is too. Austin racked up 5 rebounds and 5 assists as well but turned the ball over 3 times. It was fun to watch him heat up, mostly in the first half of the game.
Next: Austin Rivers proposes to his longtime girlfriend
The Clippers’ injury struggles might just be what Austin Rivers’ “Most Improved Player” campaign needed. As his scoring role for the team has grown, so have all of his numbers. This kind of behavior is what we are used to from Rivers, as last season we saw him improve drastically when put in the starting lineup.