The LA Clippers have remained relatively healthy this season, but injuries to both Lou Williams and Danilo Gallinari may jeopardize their playoff chances.
While the team has only had one player with a lingering injury this season in Luc Mbah a Moute, they now have two key players who could miss multiple games, which could jeopardize the LA Clippers’ playoff chances.
Minutes prior to the start of last night’s loss to the Golden State Warriors, it was announced that Lou Williams would sit out with right hamstring issues. Lou had already missed games earlier this season with a hamstring strain, but that was for his left one.
While the loss of just Williams would be possible to overcome, the team was dealt more bad news when in the second quarter of the game, Danilo Gallinari had to leave with back spasms. He would not return.
This left the Clippers without two of their top three scorers and while the loss to the Warriors hurt, it’s the possible longevity of these injuries that could really mess the team up.
Doc Rivers has already announced that he expects Williams to miss the next couple of games and there has not been an update on Gallinari at the time of writing.
Doc Rivers said he expects Lou Williams to miss the next two games at least.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) January 19, 2019
However, back injuries are not something to be trifled with and can linger for the rest of the season. Gallinari has never been the picture of health, so seeing him finally end up with an injury this season has to scare the team as much as it does us fans.
The loss last night dropped the Clippers into ninth place, effectively putting them outside of the playoff picture. If both Gallinari and Williams are to miss multiple games, the team could struggle to regain ground in the tough Western Conference.
The team could face serious trouble in the coming weeks and will have to fight extra hard to stay in the playoff picture as both players recover.
Their next two games come against the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks, who are both trying to stay in the playoff race as well. LA needs wins in both of these games to not only end their streak, but to push themselves back into the thick of things.
Keep checking back here for any updates on Williams and Gallinari as we receive them.