Dunleavy said that Tim Thomas (groin) is getting close to returning to the court, but that Marcus Camby (heel) didn’t respond as well to yesterday’s practice and might miss a little more time.
Dunleavy was optimistic that all three injured players (Baron Davis, Thomas and Camby) would be ready to go for the season opener on October 29, though we’ll know more about the extent of Baron Davis’ finger injury on Monday.
Ricky Davis doing some of the ball-handling. In our pregame chat with coach Mike Dunleavy, he mentioned that with Baron Davis out, he might experiment with Ricky Davis playing point guard.
Paul Davis just made a nice catch and finish off of a slick pass from Cuttino Mobley early on here in the Clippers exhibition game against the Toronto Raptors. Why is this surprising?
Well, before the game we were chatting with Davis about how painful his sprained right pinkie finger is. It’s a second degree sprain, which by definition is a partial ligament tear. Davis said it’s extremely painful, despite his heavy tape job. But the only way for it to heal is with rest, and Davis doesn’t want to go back down that road again.
“I’m through with all that,” Davis said, gesturing to his surgically repaired right knee. “I’m just going to play through it.”
Baron Davis came to tonight’s exhibition home opener dressed in street clothes, with his sprained right index finger heavily taped. He will not play in either of this weekend’s exhibition games.
I asked how it felt compared to other sprains he’s had and Baron said fairly tersely, “like a sprain.”
“It’s unfortunate, with the timing of everybody getting hurt not being able to play,” Davis said. “I think situations like this forces other guys to step up and we can see what we can get from other guys.”
Davis is scheduled to see a hand specialist on Monday and said he hopes to get back sometime next week. He injured the finger by falling awkwardly on his hand during practice on Friday.
Baron Davis won’t play in either exhibition game Saturday or Sunday due to a sprained left ring finger suffered in practice. X-rays taken Friday were negative, an MRI was inconclusive. He will be further evaluated on Monday.
Davis missed the Clippers two exhibitions earlier in the week with the flu.
The Clippers waived forward Curtis Sumpter today, trimming their roster down to 15. Former UCLA star Jelani McCoy is the only free agent remaining in camp. McCoy has gotten an extended look –and performed well — because of injuries to Marcus Camby and Tim Thomas.